The nicest buffalo I have ever met

Today I woke up for work I wanted to go right back to bed. Some of my friends were spending the day at the beach while I would be stuck in the office being bored, at least that is what I thought.

Then Michelle called me into her office to tell me about a picture I needed to go get. I didn't know what to expect then I googled Bailey D. Buffalo, the animal I was about to meet.

Now I don't know much about wild animals, but I do know a few things like pigs don't fly, cows don't jump over the moon and Buffalo don't hang out in houses and ride in cars.

But was I ever wrong, at least about the buffalo.

Bailey D. Buffalo Jr. was not some wild creature, he was actually a friendly pet that kind of reminded me of my dog.

Bailey Jr. is the second buffalo Jim and Linda Sautner have raised as a pet, and has already become the next buffalo to be making headlines across the world.

After talking to Kim for about 40 minutes I almost forgot that the gentle, innocent animal he had been describing was a animal that weighed nearly 1,000 pounds.

We went out to see Bailey one last time before I left, because to be honest, I just wanted to see him again.

Bailey and Jim's dog, Charlie Brown, were hanging out together, and both got excited to see Jim approaching them.

When Jim went to give some attention to his pet buffalo, Bailey went for his hand, and I thought it was all over. I could see the headlines: "Reporter witnesses man loose hand to pet buffalo" "Buffalo gets taste of human then goes right for journalist."

To my surprise Bailey just stood there and sucked on Jim's hand. Like a baby and a bottle.

As I stood there amazed Jim asked me a question I thought I would never hear, "Want to put you hand in my buffalos mouth?"

Immediately I said no. Why would I ever want to do something like that? I was certain that is my hand went into that mouth it would never come back. 

Then Jim reminded me I would likely never get a chance to do this again and I pulled up my sleeve and tried to hide my fear, even though Bailey could probably smell it from a mile away.

My hand went in, stayed attached to my arm, and I calmed down.

It felt like his mouth was made of sandpaper and I knew he could rip off my hand in a second, but it was interesting, to say the least, and kind of reminded me of when my dog sucks on my pinky. 

It took lots of soap and scrubbing to get all the slobber off my hand, but it was worth it.

Once again I got to do something I would never have dreamed about doing all thanks to my job.

Picture Above: Me with Jim and Bailey D. Buffalo Jr. Yes, he is in the car.