The sudden deaths of dozens of wild buffaloes in Yangmingshan National Park over the past four months have triggered questions about their protection and how much human intervention might be necessary. Since the 1930s, water buffaloes have been grazing on mountain grasslands on Yangmingshan (陽明山), when the Japanese colonial administration set up a pasture in the Qingtiangang (擎天崗) area to graze cattle and other livestock. In 1952, the government allowed local farmers to use the area as grazing ground for their water buffaloes, which they kept for heavy-duty farm work. As time passed and water buffaloes were gradually phased out of their traditional