People watched with sorrow as buffaloes died from the cold, their meat being butchered and sold along the highway.

On the afternoon of February 1st, after two days of snow and frost in many places such as O Quy Ho Pass, Fansipan Peak, Sa Pa town, Si Ma Cai, etc., temperatures remained very low, fluctuating between 0-5 degrees Celsius. Although the snow had stopped falling in Sa Pa town and many other places, frost still covered everything in white, and the cold air caused many difficulties for the people, resulting in losses of livestock and crops.

He and his father butchered a buffalo in front of their house.Ly Phuong Chieu (born in 1993, residing in Trung Chai commune) said: "In the past few days, snowfall has caused the herd of more than 10 buffaloes that my family lets graze on the mountain to get cold. Two of them froze to death in the forest."It wasn't just his family; many other households in the village who let their buffaloes graze on the mountain also had buffaloes die due to the cold.

“When it snowed heavily in Sa Pa, I and several others went up the mountain to herd the buffaloes back to escape the cold, and we discovered that some buffaloes had frozen feet and couldn't walk, while some smaller ones had died in the forest,” Chiêu said.

The three Ly Lao Lo brothers are butchering a buffalo to sell the meat. Photo: Nguyen Hoan.

About 1km from Mr. Chieu's house, on the way from Sa Pa towards Lao Cai City, the three Ly Lao Lo brothers were also butchering a recently deceased young buffalo. Two days of snow and rain in Trung Chai commune caused the death of one old buffalo and two young buffaloes belonging to Mr. Lo's family due to the cold and freezing temperatures.

“Knowing that the snow and rain would affect the buffalo herd, on the afternoon of January 31st, I went up the mountain with my two younger siblings to look for them and found the largest buffalo dead on the mountain. The family had no choice but to butcher the buffalo in the forest and bring the meat back to sell along the highway. A day later, before the meat was all sold, two calves died from the cold,” Mr. Lở shared.

The Hmong man said that because he sells meat along the highway, very few people buy from him.

According to observations by reporters on the afternoon of February 1st, many residents of Trung Chải commune had herded their buffaloes, which were grazing freely on the mountains, back to avoid the severe cold, frost, and snow.

While herding the buffaloes back to the shed, Ms. Chà Sa Mẩy (38 years old) said: "In previous years, during the cold spell, many of my family's buffaloes died due to the cold and snow. So this year, my family built a shed with tarpaulin to protect the buffaloes from rain and wind. Before dark, we carefully herd the buffaloes back to the shed, and only let them out to graze the following day when the weather is clear and dry."

The villagers lit fires to keep the buffaloes warm.

According to Mr. Nguyen Chinh Cuong, Chief of the Office of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lao Cai province, snow and ice that appeared in Sa Pa over the past two days caused the death of 26 buffaloes and 3 cows due to the cold, with estimated losses of nearly 500 million VND. Damage to crops, industrial plants, and other agricultural products has not yet been determined.

"The cold, rainy, and snowy weather is expected to last for many more days, so the local authorities have implemented a plan to prevent damage to livestock, poultry, and agricultural products for the people, and are closely monitoring weather developments to have timely solutions when necessary," Mr. Cuong said.

Mr. Cuong also stated that, since the beginning of the cold season (November 19, 2017 to the present), the entire province has suffered losses of 453 head of livestock, with an estimated total value of over 6.9 billion VND. Of these losses, more than 50% occurred in Sa Pa district, with the remainder in Si Ma Cai, Lao Cai City, and Van Ban.