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Page 2 of 2 The first dozen water buffalo were imported from Eastern Europe in 1991 by Bob Palmer who went on to form a co-operative to sell the milk and meat. The pioneering farmers who have taken up water buffalo have teamed up with equally enterprising cheesemakers such as Ribblesdale in Yorkshire who, in turn, make classic mozzarella by heating the curds that is then spun into the familiar balls of cheese. If there is still a long way to go before buffalo steaks are on everyone's shopping list, there is a small but growing interest in these animals and a great demand for fresh buffalo mozzarella with all the taste of Italian cheese but without the air miles. Our countryside may now echo to the barking grunt of a water buffalo but these animals are simply part of a very long tradition of introductions. Don't forget that the Normans introduced the rabbit to these shores, setting up artificial warrens in which they bred. Of course the rabbits quickly spread far and wide - not all introductions have stayed within the confines of the parks where they have been bred. Reeve's Muntjak deer, natives of China and Taiwan, are a case in point. Now these small, tusked deer with their sharp, barking call can be found throughout Britain's southern counties. Almost extinct
Pere David's deer, on the other hand, are so rare they are unlikely ever to colonize these islands. These Chinese deer roam Woburn Abbey's 3,000 acres [3 JPEGs] in the company of nine other species, but what sets Pere David's deer apart is their brush with extinction and triumphant return to their native land. It is a story which is intimately entwined with the lives of the Dukes of Bedford, a Jesuit missionary and a Chinese zoologist.
Long before they ever took his name, Peter David's water-loving deer waded through the swamps of central China. Unfortunately for the deer their habitat dwindled until the only herd left was ensconced behind the 42-mile wall surrounding the Imperial Hunting Park near Beijing. Then in 1865 fate took a hand: a curious Jesuit missionary persuaded the Tartar guards to let him look over the wall. What he saw was an animal that was unknown to the Western world and one that the Chinese themselves found extraordinary, calling it sze pu shiang, which translates as "none of the four". To Chinese eyes it has the neck of a camel, the hooves of a cow, the tail of a donkey and the antlers of a deer.
Pere Armand David managed to obtain two skins and as he had hoped, they excited naturalists in France. Through diplomatic means the French obtained a gift of two live animals. Although they did not survive the sea journey, the way was open for more diplomatic gifts to England and Germany that, fortunately, survived. In 1895 floods broke through the park wall sweeping away all but 20or so deer and these, sad to say, were swiftly eaten during the Boxer Rebellion six years later.
Alert to the danger of extinction, the 11th Duke of Bedford gathered together Europe's scattered specimens into a herd of 18 and from these animals all the Pere David's deer in existence have been bred. At the outbreak of the Second World War, mindful of the fate of the Imperial deer, the Duke scattered the herd and now they are represented in collections all over the world. Several herds now roam in China thanks to the 14th Duke of Bedford, an eminent Chinese zoologist, Professor Wang Zongyi, and Bratislava deer specialist, Maja Boyd, who together steered a diplomatic course to return some 22 deer to China in 1985.
Twenty years later, the present Duke travelled to China to see the deer in their native land and to witness the unveiling of his father's life-size statue. That the 14th Duke is the first foreigner to be so honoured says a great deal about the significance of his gift both to China and the world. It's a remarkable story of conservation and one that would not have been told if the Duke had kept only our native deer.
So will vast herds of water buffalo graze our meadows and will alpacas replace the sheep that graze our uplands? I very much doubt it but, they do offer a chance to diversify, to try something new and they certainly bring a touch of the exotic to our green and pleasant land.
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