Death of businessman killed by water buffalo in Wales investigated
Police and health and safety inspectors are investigating the death of a successful businessman whose side project raising water buffalo ended in tragedy when one of the animals killed him and injured two of his children.
Ralph “Jon” Jump is believed to have been injured as he and his two children, who worked with him on their farm in south-east Wales, tried to get one of the animals back into a pen after it escaped.
Jump, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident near the town of Usk, Monmouthshire, while his 19-year-old son, Peter, was taken to hospital with critical injuries and his daughter, Isabel, 22, sustained a serious leg wound. The buffalo has been destroyed.
Neighbours said Jump ran the farm as a sideline to his main business, and produced craft soap from the buffalo milk.
One neighbour said: “Jon approached us last year about buying some hay for his buffalo. We asked him what he was doing and he said he was trying to diversify the farm. I think he had about a dozen buffalo at the farm and had bred a couple of calves over the past year or so.”
Another neighbour said they were a
“charming” family. He said: “It’s a terrible tragedy. They couldn’t be nicer people.”
Jump was managing director of a company supplying heating equipment. The buffalo milk soap was sold through a business called The Bufalina Soap Company.
The company’s website says: “We make our soap with the milk from our herd of Mediterranean water buffalo. Around the world this buffalo breed is famous for its dairy products such as mozzarella, gelato and ice cream. The richness of the milk makes it ideal for making a creamy, luxurious and gentle soap which leaves the skin feeling soft and moisturised.”
Last year Jump advertised the sale of “great-natured heifer calves, used to regular handling” on his Facebook page.
Water buffalo are bred in the UK for their meat and milk and sometimes as part of conservation projects because of the way they graze wetland.
Other water buffalo farmers spoke of their shock. Steven Mitchell, who raises water buffalo at Clentrie farm Auchtertool, south-east Scotland, said: “They are very intelligent, friendly animals. They don’t kick like cows but their horns can be severe and they can be protective if they have calves.”
Oakley Whilock, who has 20 water buffalo at his farm in Staffordshire, said they were generally placid. “We can even ride our bull,” he said. “But we have had the odd close call when they are calving.”
Deaths involving cows are more common than might be expected. In 2018-19 there were nine deaths involving cattle in Britain. But none of the farmers had heard of a case in which anyone had been killed in the UK by a water buffalo.
Water buffalo have been grazed on the Teifi Marshes in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales.
Sarah Kessel, the chief executive officer of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said they had been very beneficial because their love of wallowing has led to the creation of pools that create the perfect habitat for amphibians, dragonflies, damselflies and wetland birds. She added: “We have always found our herd to be very docile, and easy to handle.”