Is everyone aware that this white buffalo's mother came from a herd that produce another white buffalo about six years before the birth of this one? Were the elders that gave statements made aware of this??
I meant it kinda loses it special spiritual meaning if this white buffalo comes from a herd that is known to produce other white buffalos.
The former owners "Sonny and Jill Herring even made the statement
The white buffalo is not an albino, and is the result of a rare recessive gene that both parents must possess.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06344/745017-85.stmNot so rare if another white buffalo came from the same herd ( People really need to start questoning this)
The mother and another pregnant female came from a Nebraska herd in which another white buffalo was born about six years ago, Sonny Herring said
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_481511.html#Fayette County zoo gets surprise rare specimen
By Bob Stiles
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, November 27, 2006
As Sonny Herring approached the pasture at his Fayette County zoo, he wondered what the white object was nestled in the grass.
"I thought something else got in the exhibit," Herring said Friday.
It did, but not what Herring was expecting. In the grass was a newborn white buffalo.
"I thought, 'What the heck, we got a white buffalo.' I think the odds are something like one in 10 million," Herring said.
His wife, Jill Herring, said she also was astounded by the birth Nov. 12 at the Woodland Zoo near Farmington. She saw the male calf shortly after its birth.
"It's pretty neat," she said. "To have an all-white one is extremely rare. No one I know who raises buffaloes has had one. We're thrilled, of course."
White buffaloes hold a place of reverence among American Indians, especially the Cheyenne, Sioux and other nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains.
According to a version of a legend, a white buffalo, disguised as a woman wearing white hides, appeared to two men.
One man treated her with dignity; the other didn't. She turned the disrespectful man into a pile of bones and gave the respectful one a pipe and taught his people rituals and music. She transformed into a female white buffalo calf and promised to return again.
The birth of a white male buffalo means men need to take responsibility for their families and the future of the tribe, according to an Associated Press story about the birth of a white buffalo earlier this decade.
No one at the National Bison Association could be reached for comment.
The Web site Wikipedia lists at least five births of white buffaloes nationwide since 1995. One farm in Wisconsin welcomed its third white buffalo, born earlier this year.
Jill Herring, who has operated the 180-animal zoo with her husband for 11 years, said the calf spends most of its time with its mother.
"It is with mom, and that is where it will stay," she said.
In addition to the color, the birth is unusual because of when it happened, Sonny Herring said. Normally, buffalo are born in March or April, he explained.
The mother and another pregnant female came from a Nebraska herd in which another white buffalo was born about six years ago, Sonny Herring said. People who visit the zoo and see the white calf usually have the same question, Sonny Herring related, "'What's that?'"
"They don't expect a buffalo to be white."
Sonny Herring said the buffalo could help the zoo attract more visitors.
"We hope so," he said. At this point, the calf doesn't have a name.
"We're searching for an Indian-type name for it, and we haven't come up with the right one yet," Jill Herring said.
But she does know what's in the calf's future.
"He will stay, definitely, because of what he is. There won't be a chance of him leaving," Jill Herring said.
Her husband agreed.
"It will stay here for as long as it wants," he said.
Bob Stiles can be reached at bstiles@tribweb.com or 724-836-6622.
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