A Lot of Bull : Bubba Shows His Mettle as 4 Buffalo Calves Are Born at Hart Park

NEWHALL —  Bubba the buffalo doesn’t like to rush things, when it comes to love.

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Three years ago, he was brought to Hart Park in Newhall to sow the seeds of a new generation of buffalo at the park, formerly the estate of silent Western star William S. Hart. At that time there were seven female buffalo in the park, now owned by the county, and one male, but the lone male was up there in years and it seemed his baby-making days were long over.

Besides, he was a blood relation to the females and park officials were concerned about inbreeding.

Then, along came Bubba.

Park officials were hopeful, but as time went on they began to question Bubba’s potency. None of the females became pregnant.

“We knew he was trying,” said Park Supt. Norm Phillips. “We saw him.”

This year, when May and then most of June--the usual season for buffalo births--passed by without any calves, Bubba’s free and easy days at Hart seemed in danger of ending. Park officials were considering trading him in.

But within the last three weeks came the evidence that Bubba was indeed capable of being a dad. Park officials could not get close enough to the females to tell if they were indeed pregnant, but then one night an attendant saw one of the females giving birth in the distance. Within a few days, four females had had calves, all weighing between 80 and 90 pounds.

“We feel we have three females and one bull,” said Phillips, of the newest additions to the herd. Officials still can’t get too close because the mothers are extremely protective at this stage. “We don’t know if there will be more,” he said. “We feel there could be a couple of others.”

Hart Park came to be the home of buffalo in 1962, when Walt Disney donated 10 of the animals used in the film “Westward Ho the Wagons!” Phillips said.