Moo-ved out: China flat owner removes 7 cows from balcony following complaints

You can take the villagers out from their village, but you can't take the village out of them.

A flat owner's herd of cattle have been spotted on the fifth floor balcony of a residential building in Sichuan, China, munching away at their meals in several viral Douyin videos, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Wednesday (July 19).

"I wasn't really paying attention to it in the morning but was thinking to myself, 'It's normal to raise chickens or ducks, but who would raise cows [in their flat]?" A resident told Chinese media.

Members of the community in the building had noticed the sounds of cows mooing and raised an uproar.

One even posted a recording of the cows crying out in their group chat, local media outlet Fengmian News reported on Sunday.

Continued the resident: "By the afternoon the situation had blown up and other people were talking about it, so I also complained."

Footage spread on Douyin also shows seven cows relaxing on the balcony, their legs tucked under their bodies.

The animals, each weighing about 10 to 20kg each, were only there for a day before residents raised complaints to authorities, citing noisy mooing and a pungent odour of cow dung.

The female flat owner adamantly refused to remove the cattle from her abode but urban management officials successfully removed the cows from the balcony on July 14,  according to Chinese media.

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The cows were then impounded until 5pm the next day before they were returned to their owner.

However, the community hadn't seen the last of the cows just yet — the night the cows were returned, the flat owner's vehicle was seen parked across the street from the community, with all seven calves still in them.

The cows spent the night in that car and security measures were raised to prevent this situation from recurring.

As of the time of reporting on July 16, security guards were on duty 24 hours a day, according to Fengmian News.

Even amid the complaints of residents, netizens expressed sympathy for the owner and for the cows, SCMP reported.

"Poor cows, being squeezed onto such a small balcony," a netizen said.

"I'm sure the cattle never imagined they could live in a building one day," another mused.

As it turns out, the residential compound reportedly houses people who have been resettled from villages in the area, and raising poultry is not uncommon for them, although others might not appreciate the noise created.

Explained a user: "People there have spent their life living in the countryside and were used to keeping poultry and planting vegetables in their yards."

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khooyihang@asiaone.com