VietNamNet Bridge – Two households in the central province of Quang Tri decided that if DNA testing is good enough to determine the parents of humans, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be used to determine the identity of a calf’s biological mother.

DNA testing -- Illustrative image – Source: dantri

The case, as reported by the Vietnamnet online newspaper, involved two families of cattle herders in Trieu Phong District’s Trieu Ai Commune - Trinh Minh T. and Phan Thị H.

Farmers in the region often let their cows graze unsupervised in the hills for long periods of up to a month.

The row between the two households began last November with the birth of a baby cow, with each insisting it was theirs.

H. claimed the baby belonged to her family and accused T. of being a thief.  T. reported the incident to local authorities and said he had been insulted.

Initially, authorities asked H. to give VND3,000,000 (US$134) to T in order to get the calf, but neither side agreed.

The case was then brought to the Quang Tri People’s Court, which asked the LOCI DNA testing centre for help.

The test result was surprising: the calf and a female cow raised at each household were found to be related.

The calf is related to both, as the female cows are related.

The confused court opted for a Solomonic decision: each household should take half a calf.

Specifically, the court ordered that the calf be appraised, sold and its value divided between the feuding families. Ironically, the calf was valued at half the price of the DNA testing, which cost about VND5,000,000 (US$223.5).

VNS