Fife farming: Farmer devastated after two pregnant buffalo die in 'tragic incident' on Kirkcaldy farm

Steve Mitchell, owner of The Buffalo Farm in Kirkcaldy, was alerted after six of his animals were found stuck in a marshy field at the farm.

Firefighters worked for more than four hours to pull the buffalo from the bog in a major rescue operation on Monday afternoon.

The two buffalo who died, which are from his prize milking herd and cost £3,000 each, were eight-and-a-half months pregnant.

The farm has thanked Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline Fire Appliances, Glenrothes & Perth Water Rescue Unit and Sitehill & Edinburgh Heavy Rescue Unit for assisting on the scene.

In a video posted to social media, Mr Mitchell documented the rescue of the animals, as well as the sad deaths of the two buffalo that could not be saved.

While he drove over to the farm, he told viewers: “I’ve just had a phone call you never want to receive from a stockman that said he found two dead buffalo and four more stuck.

“I don’t know what I’m going to find when I come up here.

“I only assume it’s a dry spell - it happened once before quite a few years ago when it was really dry for a period because the buffalo get really confident on where they can go and wallow and play.

“The mud gets to a certain level of dryness that it almost gets extra sticky and they can’t get out of it. What a horrible way to start a Monday - it’s not a good feeling, that’s all I can say.”

Two pregnant buffalos drowned after ‘battling exhaustion’

Mr Mitchell told the BBC his stockman thought the animals were wallowing in the mud. He said the stockman had not checked them more closely because the bull in the field had chased him on his quad bike, which had distracted him.

By the time the buffalo were assessed, two of the animals had drowned after battling exhaustion.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We got the call at 12.25pm to reports of buffalo stuck on a farm near Kirkcaldy. We used animal rescue straps and mud slopes to rescue buffalo that were trapped.

“The last appliance left the scene at 4.38pm. We sent appliances from Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Perth, Dunfermline and Sighthill for the heavy rescue unit.”