Buffaloland: Buffalo Of P.E.I.

Checking out the Buffalo at the nearby park is one of my favorite pastimes.

Buffaloland Park is located at Milltown Cross Road about 9 Km ( 5 Mi) from the town of Montague. It is not far from my house.

The Buffalo herd started with a male and female given to Prince Edward Island (PEI) by the government of Alberta, Canada in 1973.

Here are some of the buffalo in the field. The little ones have lighter coloured fur. The hump on the babies back develops much later.

Time for an afternoon rest.





I past by Buffaloland Park whenever I go into town and often stop to see them and take a photo.

I have quite a few photos and picked out some for this post.





No matter how the day goes, seeing them grazing peaceful in the 100 acre park gives a tranquil and calming feeling that all is well with the world.

I like their chin beards and tuffs of hair on their legs. Their tail is so short, it is not much good for swatting flies off them...lots of mosquitoes and flies around in the spring.

Fast Facts

I have been told if you see their tail out straight, get out of the way as they are ready to charge.

The buffalo are peaceful by nature but can move fast if necessary.

The average lifespan of a buffalo is twenty years.

Buffalo herds are lead by the oldest female.

A sepia tone photo of one buffalo rolling in the wild flowers popping up in the field..must have a itchy back.





This photo always makes me laugh. I keep a blowup of this buffalo’s face on my cell phone.





At present the women Buddhists look after the herd. They bought Buffaloland from the PEI government for a dollar and agreed to take care of the animals.

Buddhists value the protection of all animals. To keep the size of the herd under control, the buffalo bulls were sterilized.

But the herd has increased since the Buddhists took over Buffaloland. One of the bull buffalo managed to elude the castration and five calves were born last year (2018 ) bringing the total to 56 buffalo in the park.

The history of the decrease of the once plentiful buffalo/bison over the years is a terrible sad reflection of the cruelty of humanity. Once the gentle buffalo was a necessary food and resource for our native people. By the time of the civil War (1860’s) they were hunted and killed senselessly by the thousands for a bounty or their hides. Often skinned alive so the hunter could save a bullet.

@janton and I have replied back and forth about the buffalo and I thought it was time to do another post about them.

A far cry from the millions that once roamed the plains but I’m happy to see the 56 buffalo at Buffaloland Park.

---

Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada

Photos & Text @redheadpei. All Rights Reserved.

---

#thealliance