New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-08
WILD CATTLE IN GREAT BhiiAi''
THE BREED PRESERVED IN A FEW JEAloUshi
GUARDED HERDS.


GUARDED HEED5.
From The Sketch.
There is some doubt concerning the original
stock from which the few jealousy Presei auU
herds OF wild cattle are descended. so"c o..
thorities believe them to have sprung from M
ported animals turned feral, but the "eisn' AZ, %
opinion favOrs the theory that they are ~,
scendants of the magnificent beast describe,
by Caesar Whatever their ancestry, the prccu
of white cattle is Of high antiquity. Inc siv "a,
mobiles recognized that the wiz OK iiuSt uiS
appear before the steady increase Oh popuuinh
ton and the destruction of the forests WHICH
sheltered him. and we owe it to their eXertionS
that the species survives. Considerable Tracts
of forest land, with the game they carried, Were
inclOsed by royal license, and SpeclaI laws 49,
enacted in the interests of the anlmalS 50 pr
served The penalty for poachlng IN one u
these inclOsed parks was three times as aeHoto
or savage as that inflicted upon the unfortunate
who unawfully killed game in natural forest
After interviewing with camera the compare
lively pacific beasts in the cattlesheds a' 'Iie
Zoo" | am inclined to think that poacheiS III
marks which contained wild cattle must nave
been few. The man who with bow OF spear
cssayed attack upon herd oil VIA ca1 cay ~ IL,
large captivity would rarely have required from
the hands Of his fellow-mcn afterward more
than burial. ..
There are only seven herds now in existence
Thanks TO the initiative Of the British ASSo-
ciotion a very interesting and valuable report
On these was prepared some ten years ago.
The oldest herd is that of Chllinghan Park' III
Northumberland. Inc pith WIS oliSh'''''' -
closed about l22O, or possibly carrier IL no"
covers some eleven hundred acres, exclusive
Of woodland and the famous Chngham nero
numbered in 1856 sixty head. Charley fark,
near ITttoyctcr in Staffordshire, was lncioSeu
somewhere about the middle of the thirteenth
century: the last published account OF the nero
il contains appeared in April, 1879. when the
total was forty-three head CadZow fark,
Hamilton n r. occupies n portion OF the ora
Caledonian Forest. in which the Bruce Is SAID
to have hunted wild cattle in l32o; there are
no records to show when CadzOw was lncl0scd.
In lSS,; the herd consisted of sixty head. lhcse
three parks must be regarded as distinct from
others inasmuch as they are original areas III
closed as sanctuarics for wild cattle, or, al
least portions of the original areas. me AL
r,ory inclosurc, at the head OF l"cnbipnctu,
was dcnuded Of the herd 1t had sneltercu loI
centuries in 1856, when g. w. Dun ASsnctoi,
Smith purchased the remaining thrly Two he"u
and transferred them to Naynol Iark, near
t,anyor where he had, fourteen years prev
n,Isly founded n herd with twenty-five ahlliais
from I[ilmory The Lyme Chcshire) herd es-
tablishcd in the fourteenth century, ccdsch "
eyiet in 1851 The SomcrfOrd herd dates PACK
only couple Of hundred years or so. WhlIe thoSe
ot Rlickling and Woodbastck, in Norfolk. are
ofisboots from the now extinct Middleton hetu'
In addition to the herds mentioned some Twelve
or thirteen others have dwindled to EXTINCTION
within tic last hundred years.
Although the survivors are descended from thc
me stock certain herds present distinctive
which, unfortunately, the owners
aim at preserving. 1t is unfortunate, because