I remember seeing the Buffalo as early as 2004 when we started to come to The Villages. You could buy a small bag of carrots to feed them over the fence on both sides of El Camino by Freedom Point. And as I recall the story my friends told to me was that Florida granted a property tax break if you had live stock on your property. So Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Morse decided that they should keep live stock on their property that they didn't yet need to build upon. And I don't recall who it was that came up with The Villages sales marketing slogan, but it was "Give me a Home where the Buffalo Roam". And that is why there were Buffalo on temporary vacant land all over The Villages. They just kept moving the herd as land was being developed. The last Buffalo I remember seeing was on the vacant area along 466 between Walmart and Beall's.
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