Officers Patrol on Water Buffalos in Brazil

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Simon Romero, To Soften Image, Officers Patrol on Horned Beasts; Buffalos roam for crime in Brazil. New York Times, June 21, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/2 ... -horned-beasts.html

Quote:

"The buffalo unit started in the 1990s

" 'Water buffaloes are remarkable swimmers, better than dogs, and more agile than horses when it comes to moving through mud,' said José Ribamar Marques, an official on Marajó with Embrapa, the pioneering Brazilian research company that focuses on tropical ranching and agriculture.

"the buffaloes of Marajó have certain advantages.  Their widely splayed hooves allow them to move with relative ease through muddy swamps. They also seem to deal well with the punishing heat of Marajó, which sits almost directly on the Equator.

"Antenor Penante, 30, the manager of a family-owned tannery * * * proudly described how his business uses the dried penises of water buffaloes to make horse whips and riding crops.  'We don’t waste any part of the buffalo,' said Mr. Penante, pointing to a collection of purses made from buffalo scrotums in his tannery’s store.

Note:
(a) Marajó
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marajó
(The island was the site of an advanced pre-Columbian society, the Marajoara culture [qv], which existed from approximately 400 BC to 1600 AD)

(b) “Their widely splayed hooves allow them to move with relative ease through muddy swamps.”
(i) Water Buffalo Hoof. TCM Wiki (TCM = traditional Chinese medicine), undated
www.tcmwiki.com/wiki/water-buffalo-hoof
(ii) Karen Kasmauski, Billy Goat Trail. May 2, 2013
https://kasmauski.wordpress.com/tag/billy-goat-trail/
(Mount Kilimanjaro [name origin and meaning unknown; 5,895 metres (19,341 ft) above sea level] in Tanzania; Masai or Maasai people; photo 4)

(c) Since 1982 park rangers’ mounted unit patrols Boston Commons and Public Gardens atop horses. The side effect is manure.  Oddly this report does not discuss this issue.