Buffalo Patrol

Credit: Marizilda Cruppe for The New York Times, USA

I didn’t know that the Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) can also be found in faraway Brazil. But there are about 45,000 of them in Marajû, an island – the size of Switzerland – in the Amazon River Delta.

 

So much of daily life revolves around the water buffaloes that islanders haul garbage with them, race them during festivals and regularly savour fillets of buffalo steak smothered in cheese made from, yes, buffalo milk.

 

Such is the importance of the water buffalo that the 8th Battalion of the military police of Parà – the vast state in Brazil's Amazon that encompasses Marajû – started a buffalo unit in the 1990s and since then they have been patrolling the sleepy outpost of Soure, which has about 23,000 people, and breaking up the occasional bar fight. Over the years, the mission has expanded to include pursuing suspects who flee into wilds and cracking down on buffalo rustling on ranches.

 

“Water buffaloes are remarkable swimmers, better than dogs, and more agile than horses when it comes to moving through mud,” explained José Ribamar Marques, an official with Embrapa, the pioneering Brazilian research company that focuses on tropical ranching and agriculture. “The animal is also docile, facilitating its contact with human beings.”

 

I wonder if our PDRM will consider to adopt this novel policing method in Malaysia?

On Tuesday, I was at VSQ in Petaling Jaya to attend the Taman Indrahana Toastmasters meeting where I presented a CC speech #4 titled “Heal Thyself”. It was about my favorite two beverages, Coke and beer. And I was voted Best Speaker.

 

 

 

This meeting was special because members exchanged handwritten notes on small colored pieces of paper to show and share their “gratitude and appreciation” to each other. A really nice touch to the meeting because it encouraged us to become palsy-walsy with fellow club members.