A rare cow with extra legs was heralded as a sign of good fortune by supersititious villagers in Thailand.

The four-year-old animal, named Thung Thong, was found to have an additional pair of limbs after she was sold to an animal trader in Chiang Mai province, on September 25.

A livestock dealer was taking Thung Thong and her calf to a slaughterhouse when he noticed the bizarre deformity growing out of the mother cow's back. From her withers, dangled two 20-inch legs with a floppy mass of flesh in between.

Believing the mutation was a good luck omen, a local named Tinnakorn Hiranya, 36, decided to buy Thung Thong and her calf to spare them from slaughter.

He said: 'The animal traders had purchased Thung Thong at night, but it was only in the morning that they saw her special characteristics.

'I told them I wanted to buy her because she had a lump of flesh protruding from her back, resembling a sack of money and gold.

'Many people called me after hearing the news. Some even offered to buy Thung Thong for 100,000 baht (2,300 GBP) but I refused because I wanted her caretaker to be someone with spiritual purity and faith.'

Superstitious residents began flocking to Tinnakorn's property, hoping to be blessed with good luck.

Tinnakorn said he plans to make donations for the god of cows at the Wat Pa Dara Phirom Phra Aram Luang temple.

Cows can grow extra legs due to polymelia, a rare birth defect from abnormal embryo development. The extra limbs are usually non-functional.

(1 GBP = 43.52 THB)