Herds of wild cattle roam freely and have for centuries on Sapelo island. This non-interference by man is unheard of anywhere else in the world simply because beef is so highly valued. Universally when stray cattle are found they are brought into existing herds for domestication or slaughter. This is why feral cattle are so extraordinarily rare. The Sapelo Island GA-DNR Team recognizes their uniqueness and does a remarkable job with feral cattle conservation efforts.

With each new century on Sapelo additional cattle were inadvertently released into the forests, savannahs and salt marshes, where they added to the numbers and reduced genetic drift. But remarkably the last infusion of breeding stock brought to the island was over 75 years ago, so it’s now likely a beneficial allele is repeatedly occurring. Their robust and aggressive existence suggests a “natural selection”, a genetic variant enhancing an adaptation for superior survival and reproduction. Perhaps these large feral cattle are the closest comparison to the ancient Auroch species that went extinct nearly 400 years ago.

Over many years the cattle industry has genetically selected their breeding stock for maximum and immediate profitability with little thought towards crucial evolutionary development. In doing so, they have inadvertently limited natural genetic diversity and deviance by creating hybrids.  Cattle breeders around the world have manufactured species of bovine that would not have existed, nor was intended to exist, through natural selection. Natural selection that exists in wild animals, through the intended course of evolution, facilitates the development of disease resilience and infection tolerance. Future research and breeding programs should be dedicated to breeding disease resilient and infection tolerant livestock by empowering feral programs.

We are dedicated to studying and documenting the wild cattle herds of Sapelo for future feral studies. We hope to be the catalyst in promoting domestication reversal programs for research around the world. We expect to learn what inherent survival adaptions and abilities have been lost through domestication of the bovine, and help to advance other feral projects.

Project Feral Forward has a vision to establish a movement beyond environmental sustainability. We must move away from being authoritative administrators, beyond never-ending stewardships, and evolve as pure observers of nature. The next evolution of environmental maturity is a Feral Forward way.