How Hong Kong ‘buffalo whisperer’ went from yelling and crazy to happy tending to animals

Lantau’s ‘buffalo whisperer’ Jean Leung talks to Kate Whitehead about growing up in a haunted house, disrespecting a triad boss and the beast that changed her life

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Lantau’s “buffalo whisperer” Jean Leung on growing up in a haunted house in Hong Kong and the injured beast that changed her life. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 7:15am, 15 Jun 2024Updated: 11:08am, 21 Jun 2024

I was born in Hong Kong in 1952, a dragon year, and grew up in To Kwa Wan, East Kowloon. My parents had six children – three boys and three girls – and I’m the fourth child. My father had a big shop with many stalls, selling wooden shoes, sweets and biscuits.

He brought in eight pinball machines to earn some extra money, but it was illegal, and the government confiscated the machines and destroyed them on the street. My dad owed money for the machines and had to sell everything to pay back the debt and went bankrupt.

His good friend on Cheung Chau knew about an old abandoned house on the island that no one was living in because there were many ghosts. We had no money. Poor people are not afraid of ghosts, so when I was five years old, we moved into the house.

My sister saw a ghost in that house, but I never saw any.

Jean Leung is known as the buffalo whisperer “because the buffalo understand what I say”. Photo: Jean Leung

Glass act

My parents’ relationship wasn’t good because they were very poor, had many children and had to work hard. They always argued.