FAMOUS CATTLE HERD

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3392, 24 December 1931, Page 6

FAMOUS CATTLE HERD

LIKELY TO BE DESTROYED. PEER'S MONEY TROUBLES. The famous herd of wild white cattle, Britain's last surviving wild beasts which have roamed the great park of Chillingham 5 Castle, near Wooler, in Northumberland, for more than a hundred years, is likely to disappear. The young Earl of Tankerville, who succeeded, his father this year, has decided to close the castle, a beautiful fourteenth century border structure, -on account of heavy taxation. He Stated that the herd might have to be destroyed;/ % J " This is about the last thing I want tb do," said librd Tankerville. " Chillingham cattle are, as you know, of national interest. I should be very sorry; indeed';to be obliged to destroy thiem, but it(lmay have to be the case. Their upkeep, costs £8 to £lO per head k year, ?ind there are 44 of them, so that the. cost is very heavy."

The earl was asked if there was any possibility of the herd being sold to Argentina or the United States. " I doubt very much if they would maintain their characteristics or thrive if we took them away from here," he replied. When Chillingham Castle is closed the earl will continue to live with his Scandinavian wife in the estate cottage, and with a small staff look f ater the deserted estate.

Lord Tankerville, who is a skilled air pilot and engineer, is still keenly interested in films, and each Saturday night runs a programme of silent pictures at Wooler.