Dear bull
The event occurred in the 1950's. This was on a small property on the coast in the Bourail area. Was it at Poé or in the Cap? Precise location was not given but we know that the land is on the coast, alongside shallow waters with sea grass on the lagoon floor. The land was owned by a small cattle raiser. He had built is herd up through hard work and hard savings. He was caring for his cattle with love and improved its stock through methodical selection of the bulls siring his cows.
For a long time he has dreamt of purchasing an expensive top bull which would help him making a big forward leap in the quality of his herd. This project haunts him. He keeps saving, deprives himself of everything with a view to achieve it. At last he thinks he is ready. He decides to fly to the Royal Sydney Show in Australia. This is the great annual Sydney event, the most important one for cattle raisers in Australia and in the region. Fabulous animals are displayed and sold.
Our man lands in Sydney. All his days are devoted to the "Show". After a while, with all the splendid bulls shown, he goes for it and buys a superb animal with many rewards. It costs him a fortune but this is, he believes, the best bull of the show, or one of the best.
The bull has now been flown to New Caledonia. Quarantine is over and, at long last, the bull is transported to Bourail. Our cattle man has spent all his money but now his bull is on his property. It is going to sire splendid calves. All his neighbours are going to envy him. From everywhere in New Caledonia other cattle owners will come to admire it. He will be able to sell the young bulls at very high prices. His investment will be handsomely paid back and he will make plenty of money so that he will buy a much larger cattle ranch. Happy, with all these dreams in his head, he takes the bull to the paddock where all his cows are. It is alongshore. The mating season is now due...
Time goes on and no cow has yet been served. The bull has no interest in them when they show that they are in heat and it just keeps walking along the shore. Worse, the bull looses weight! Neighbours start to ask questions. They have hidden smiles because our cattle man had boasted a bit too much. He tries harder to get his bull well adapted to his new environment. He watches it all day to analyse its behavior. To no avail. All this money invested for nothing! He can't sleep anymore!
Is it a disease? Is his bull getting ill? Why it does not like his cows? Is it a language communication problem? Our cattle man is intrigued by his bull behavior. All day long the bull keeps looking anxiously towards the sea. There is no fence on the shore side and the bull is often roaming the beach. Our man wants to understand. Is it homesick from Australia which is 2000 km away, on the other side of this sea? In the sea perhaps is the enigma key. But what his bull is doing at night?
He waits for a full moon and gets out from bed at midnight. This is easy since he can hardly sleep. He walks silently to the paddock. The bull has gone! He looks toward the sea.
It is low tide. The grassy sea floor is partly emerging. Moonlight discloses an incredible view. His bull is in the water down to its belly. The sea is in turmoil around him and seems to be boiling. Large flat tails stick out from the foam. Dozens of sea cows (dugongs) are madly turning around the bull.
Our cattle raiser cannot believe his eyes. sea cows, are being served by his bull, all of them, each in turn, without the bull relenting, without tiring, in true prize show beast that his bull is!!
Warning : We still don't know whether the bull's owner took too much of the square whisky bottle or if the people conveying this tale have improved it somehow. But it is known that sirenians can have strange sexual behaviors and are at the origin of a well known Greek myth. Who knows?