They emerge staggeringly in the roar of a tractor, their vaguely worried eyes floating at times above the sides of the cattle truck. Not annoyed for a penny despite a long night journey from the Breton farms where they were acquired. “There is nothing to fear, it is a peaceful animal,” reassures François Sargos, the curator of the national nature reserve of the Etang de Cousseau, in Lacanau. The Girondin setting where this group of eight water buffaloes risks a hoof for the first time before treading the molinie of the meadow and placidly enjoying themselves in the marsh. Already at home.
The landing of the species is an event this Friday, April 11 at midday. The Médoc is terra incognita for the water buffalo,…
They emerge staggeringly in the roar of a tractor, their vaguely worried eyes floating at times above the sides of the cattle truck. Not annoyed for a penny despite a long night journey from the Breton farms where they were acquired. “There is nothing to fear, it is a peaceful animal,” reassures François Sargos, the curator of the national nature reserve of the Etang de Cousseau, in Lacanau. The Girondin setting where this group of eight water buffaloes risks a hoof for the first time before treading the molinie of the meadow and placidly enjoying themselves in the marsh. Already at home.
The landing of the species is an event this Friday, April 11 at midday. The Médoc is terra incognita for the water buffalo, related to the well-known Asian species, devoted to toil in the rice fields. Until this week, it was not the host of any natural space in New Aquitaine. In the Orx marsh national reserve, south of the Landes, another horned beast has been sheltered for almost thirty years, the Highland cow and its Scottish bobtail locks. In Cousseau, it is a local of the stage which has been making itself at home since 1990, the Landes sea cow, a rustic survivor of the slaughterhouse thanks to the miraculous intervention of the Conservatoire des breeds d’Aquitaine. Around thirty of these heirs of the region’s past roam the six hundred hectares of the reserve between the Talaris marsh, the edges of the pond and the wooded dunes which, to the west, trace their mound towards the nearby ocean. .
The cattle were not brought there to look pretty on the postcard. They are maintenance workers. Or, more gratifying, “natural engineers” according to Xavier Chevillot, director of Sepanso (Society for the study, protection and development of nature in the South-West), the managing association. On this site stretched between the lakes of Hourtin and Carcans, to the north, and that of Lacanau, to the south, they graze on grasses, mariska, woody shoots and other meager subsistence from the moors and marshes to keep the environment open, in the shape of a relic landscape from the agropastoral era of the Landes de Gascogne. We are talking about a time which preceded the drainage of the marshes and the takeover of the maritime pine.
In support of the cows
The first steps out of the livestock trailer, Friday April 11 at midday.
GUILLAUME BONNAUD / SO
Not really attached to the gentle comfort of the stable, the Landes sea cow is in the open air all year round and meets its needs without fodder or other external input. From July to December, it grazes on open areas, with its snout in the sun and its hooves in the slush. From the beginnings of winter until the regrowth, it transhumes in the shelter of the dune forest where holm oaks, ancient maritime pines and arbutus trees thrive. She makes do with a rather meager bowl of food. “We have a herd of around thirty individuals and we cannot push further, because there are not enough resources in the forest, whereas we would need ten times more cows in good weather to maintain the marsh. The water buffaloes will complement this. They will be in the marshy areas and the heath all year round and they will prevent us from having to resort to mechanical mowing,” explains Cyril Forchelet, scientific mission manager at the reserve.
The large herbivore, which measures up to three meters long and can weigh 450 kilos, is particularly suited to its full-board mission. Even more than sea cows, it takes to the aquatic environment and lounges for hours in the water with its head submerged. He has the morals of a hippopotamus, in short, minus the gloomy mood and the furious charges. Winter in our latitudes does not scare him, equipped as he is with a good layer of fat under his black coat.
The Scarabaeus laticollis is fond of sheep and cattle dung.
Holger Krisp/Wikipedia cc-BY
For now, Sepanso is cautiously talking about a test phase. Until its validation, there will be no reproduction within the small herd. But we do not detect the slightest concern among managers. Coexistence between sea cows and water buffalo should not pose a problem. “These are species that coexist without confronting each other, like cows and horses on summer pastures,” sketches François Sargos.
Soon new dung beetles
Within a few weeks, the cattle will be joined by much less imposing animals: dung beetles, Scarabaeus laticollis, coprophagous insects whose main occupation consists of rolling balls of excrement to feed their larvae. Short circuit. Collected near Montpellier, where it is abundant, this beetle was released for the first time in spring 2023 in Cousseau. Helped by the Rewilding Europe association, Sepanso will carry out a second operation on May 7. Hoping that the critter is satisfied with a once-familiar environment. This particular species of dung beetle disappeared from the Landes de Gascogne when extensive grazing herds gave way to forestry.
These concurrent efforts aim to reconstitute an environment as free as possible from human intervention. We can believe it. A stone’s throw from one of the highlights of Gironde seaside tourism, the Cousseau reserve offers an almost virgin panorama of buildings and engine noise. Far from the context in which the reserve was created in 1976. Previously, people practiced water skiing on the pond. Hunting was king there. And the first guard who took up his duties there, Claude Feigné, remembers that he sometimes found himself face to face with soldiers stationed there for the joys of nocturnal commando training…
The water buffalo can reach 1.70 m at the shoulder.
GUILLAUME BONNAUD / SO
The Cousseau reserve in practice
The reserve is open free of charge all year round, from sunrise to sunset. Access is limited to a pedestrian path which runs alongside the D6E1 road, the link between Lacanau-Océan and Carcans-Plage/Maubuisson. The entrance has parking for bicycles. Their circulation is prohibited indoors. Observation towers offer breathtaking views of the marsh and pond. The Cousseau pond is a major wintering site for the common crane, whose numbers number in the thousands.
