https://www.reddit.com/r/BeAmazed/
Military police officers patrolled on water buffaloes in Soure, a town of about 23,000 people on Marajó Island
The buffalo unit started in the 1990s, 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 Marajó’s wilds and cracking down on buffalo rustling on the island’s far-reaching ranches.
“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 animal is also docile, facilitating its contact with human beings.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/world/americas/to-soften-image-brazilian-police-ride-in-atop-horned-beasts.html
The photo of these two soldiers and their steeds was snapped by photographer Fernando Sette on a recent sightseeing jaunt.
It’s traditional for Marajo’s military police to ride the docile, 1,000-pound creatures, he told Caters News.
Marajo, an island the size of Switzerland off Brazil’s northern coast, has some 450,000 domesticated and feral water buffalo — more animals than people. When they’re not carrying soldiers around, they haul farm equipment and provide milk, meat and hides.
“It has become a bit of a tourist attraction,” Sette said. “But it was started with the objectives of reinforcing safety and maintaining the culture of the local population.”
https://nypost.com/2019/11/22/actual-buffalo-soldiers-patrol-the-streets-of-brazilian-island/
As your brazilian reader, I can confirm that. Thanks God I live very far from there.
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