※ THIS CRYBABY CRITTER will spend the rest of its days being cared for by gentle monks.

　Stunned slaughterhouse workers refused to butcher a whopping water buffalo after the sad-eyed animal dropped to its knees like a pleading child — and giant tears streamed down its cheeks!

　“People think animals don’t cry, but that beast was sobbing like a baby,” packing plant boss Billy Fong told reporters in Hong Kong.

　“There were a dozen big, burly men standing there — boys who make their living slaughtering animals — and tears started welling up in their eyes, too.

　“The men were so moved by the animal that they chipped in and bought that buffalo with their own money. Then they gave it to a Buddhist monastery so it could live out its life in peace.”

　The touching tale of the blubbering buffalo began as workers led the 1,200-pound beast toward the packing plant to be carved into steaks and stew meat.

　As they neared the slaughterhouse door, the anguished animal suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and knelt on its front legs. Then the tears started to flow.

　“When I saw that supposedly dumb animal crying, and saw the fear and sadness in its eyes, I started trembling and shaking,” recalled shook- up butcher Shiu Tat-Nin.

　“I called the others over and they were as amazed as I was. We started pulling and pushing on that buffalo and it wouldn’t budge. It just sat and cried.

　“We all had chills because that animal seemed so human. We looked at each other, and we knew none of us was going to be able to kill it. The problem was figuring out what we were going to do with the darn thing.”

　Finally, the butchers decided to pool their money and send the weeping beast on a lifelong vacation with some buffalo-loving monks.

　“We couldn’t get it to move until we promised it it wasn’t going to die — and then it got up and went right along with us,” Shiu said.

　“You can believe that or not. It’s the truth, strange as it sounds.”

　“It was almost like that enormous dumb animal could understand every word we were saying”.

　For some slaughterhouse workers, coming face-to-face with a crybaby buffalo was a lot more than they could stand.

　“Three of the men quit right there on the spot,” said foreman Fong. “They said they’d never be able to kill another animal without thinking of this one with tears pouring out of its big, sad eyes and running down its face.”