A beauty pageant for buffaloes in Thailand raises status of the humble animal

CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — It was 5-year-old Tod's first time competing in a beauty pageant and the bright red interior of his ears turned out and popped against his black fur.

The main stud for his owner, food vendor and farmer Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam, Tod was one of the competitors Monday at the annual water buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, a city about an hour drive from Bangkok.

Formerly considered humble draft animals, water buffaloes have become prized show animals in Thailand. They are celebrated at the festival, held at the end of the 11th lunar month to celebrate the beginning of the harvest season and put a spotlight on the animals that once were vital to Thai agriculture.

These days tractors have replaced buffaloes, once prized for their strength and ability to plow fields and transport heavy loads. If the animals are not competing in shows, they are sold for meat.

Buffaloes were the main attraction at the fair in Chonburi, which kicked off with a parade featuring students performing traditional Thai dance. Some of the buffaloes wore flower crowns as they pulled traditional wooden carriages with wheels 2 meters (6.5 feet) tall carrying their owners and women dressed in traditional Thai garb.

The festival also featured a race with buffaloes ridden by jockeys sprinting down a 100-meter (328-foot) track.

Pitun Rassamee came to compete with his 3-year-old buffalo with white fur. The albino already had won local competitions and he hoped Lookaew, meaning marble in Thai, would place in the top five.

There was good reason to be hopeful. Another albino Thai buffalo was sold in 2024 for 18 million baht ($672,000) after winning multiple pageants.

The shift from farm animals to prized symbols has been a gradual one accompanying the mechanization of farming. Thailand's water buffalo population was in decline for a time.

But the contests have injected new interest in the animals, as well as a new industry enjoying government support. The Thai government designated a Thai Buffalo Conservation Day beginning in 2017 and local governments now provide breeding assistance to farmers.

Thawatchai, the food vendor who owns Tod, said raising the buffalo for competition was only a hobby. He lets it roam freely on his family's farm and was only at the festival to see how Tod measured up with others.

On bigger farms, the animals are bathed every day and fed a special diet of corn, soybeans, bran and vitamins, explained Kijchai Angkhanawin, who works as a caretaker for prized buffaloes,

He splashed water on the buffaloes he was overseeing at the festival, which stood at least a head taller and were bulkier than many of the other animals. They are judged on horn size, hoof smoothness and overall physique, he said.

In Chonburi, the buffalo-centered events are not new, said Papada Srisophon, an assistant to the chief of a village near a livestock center where farmers learn techniques to raise the animals.

“Each year it has become bigger and bigger," Papada said, explaining the contests are an incentive for the farmers to keep raising the animals. “Without this activity, they won’t know what to do with their buffaloes, and they won’t be motivated to keep their buffaloes.”

At the Chonburi beauty pageant, the owners and caretakers waited with their buffaloes in shaded pens. Fire trucks delivered water for the animals while festival visitors posed for pictures with the biggest animals and families with small children gathered in the stands.

Caretakers then corralled the large animals into a designated pen where judges wearing bolo ties and cowboy hats inspected the contestants.

Many of the owners entering buffaloes in the competition said they grew up with the gentle animals and still valued them, even if they could no longer be of use on the farm.

“Although buffaloes can still work in the field, they cannot compete with machines,” said Thawatchai, whose family still keeps 30 buffaloes including Tod. "Buffaloes are still important to me. It’s like what they said: 'People raise buffaloes, and buffaloes raise people.’ It’s like a family member.”

A Thai buffalo rider loses his balance and falls in a sprint event during the annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A Thai buffalo rider loses his balance and falls in a sprint event during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai buffalo racers compete in a sprint event during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thawatchai Daeng-Ngam and his "Tod," a 5-year-old buffalo, participate in a beauty buffalo pageant during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai buffalo racers compete in a sprint event during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thai buffalo racers start off a sprint event during an annual buffalo racing festival in Chonburi, Thailand, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

In Friday's case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Yoon’s defense team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)