An ‘extremely rare’ calf born with a third eye in the middle of its forehead is still destined for the dinner plate.
The eye has eyelids and eyelashes and is likely a ‘developmental anomaly’, said vet Malan Hughes, who spotted the calf on Jake Jones’ farm in Brynmawr, North Wales.
‘I rear about three thousand calves a year and have never seen anything like it,’ the stunned beef farmer said.
The healthy calf was suitably named Isaiah after the vet shared a picture of the animal on social media, asking if anyone had seen anything like it before.
Malan, 28, said the eye ‘looks fine’ from the outside and is moist as if some kind of lubricant is being secreted.
‘But it’s impossible to know if anything is going on behind the eye,’ she said.
The vet added: ‘Having a calf or any animal with this impairment is extremely rare. I have never heard of, or seen one like this before.
‘The calf seems perfectly healthy. We were doing other work with the herd when we noticed the fault.
‘He will surely live a normal life for such an animal.’
Unfortunately for Isaiah, he was born on a beef farm in Wales, not India, where a three-eyed calf called Shiva is now worshipped as a religious deity.
Villagers in Tamil Nadu flocked to visit the animal when it was born in 2014, and named him after the three-eyed Hindu god.
Malan added: ‘[Isaiah] does not act any differently from any other calf.
‘As a veterinary practice, we will certainly be treating it with the same care we give every animal.’
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