Woodland Zoo's NEIGHBORS



DISCLAIMER All persons entering Woodland Zoo, do so at their own risk. Woodland Zoo will not be responsible for injuries to any individual.

One summer a long time ago, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota Sioux came together and camped. The sun was strong and the people were starving for there was no game.

Two young men went out to hunt. Along the way, the two men met a beautiful young woman dressed in white who floated as she walked. One man had bad desires for the woman and tried to touch her, but was consumed by a cloud and turned into a pile of bones.

The woman spoke to the second young man and said, "Return to your people and tell them I am coming."

This holy woman brought a wrapped bundle to the people. She unwrapped the bundle giving to the people a sacred pipe and teaching them how to use it to pray.

"With this holy pipe, you will walk like a living prayer," she said. The holy woman told the Sioux about the value of the buffalo, the women and the children. "You are from Mother Earth," she told the women, "What you are doing is as great as the warriors do."

Before she left, she told the people she would return. As she walked away, she rolled over four times, turning into a white female buffalo calf. It is said after that day the Lakota honored their pipe, and buffalo were plentiful. (from John Lame Deer's telling in 1967)

Many believe that the buffalo calf, Miracle, born August 20, 1994 symbolizes the coming
together of humanity into a oneness of heart, mind, and spirit.

In 1833, a white bison was killed by the Cheyenne. The skin of this bison is hanging on the wall of Bent's Old Fort in Colorado. The Cheyenne killed this white bison during the Leonid Meteor Shower (The Night the Stars Fell) and scribed a peace and trade treaty on its skin. This event was documented by historian Josiah Gregg and other travelers on the Santa Fe Trail.

A bison named Big Medicine (1933-1959) was born in the wild on the National Bison Range on Montana's Flathead Indian Reservation, and is now displayed at the Montana Historical Society.

A white buffalo was recorded at the U.S. Army Arctic Testing Center, Fort Greely, Alaska. There is a copyrighted photograph of it in "Seeing the White Buffalo" by Robert Pickering. This buffalo was part of a herd that had been relocated from Montana.

A female named Miracle (not to be confused with Miracle Moon), was born at the family farm of Dave, Valerie, and Corey Heider near Janesville, Wisconsin on August 20, 1994. Her fur fully transitioned to brown as she matured, and she gave birth to four calves of her own before dying of natural causes on September 19, 2004. Sioux tribal members had continually visited their farm since the birth of Miracle. Additionally, a calf born at the Heider farm died aged 4 days in 1996. A third white calf was born in August 2006 which died after being struck by lightning in November of the same year.

Ma-hi-ya-sqa ("White Cloud") is an albino White Buffalo born July 10, 1996. She has resided since 1997 at the National Buffalo Museum and Cultural Center in Jamestown, North Dakota. Ma-hi-ya-sqa has been certified by the National Bison Association as an albino white bison; she is deaf and has impaired vision. She has had two calves, both brown.

A male white buffalo named Spirit of Peace was born on April 17, 2005, on the Blatz Bison Ranch in Fort St. John, British Columbia. Unfortunately, Spirit of Peace died on June 1 of the same year, probably as a result of his premature birth.

A male named Blizzard was born in March 2006 on the farm of an anonymous rancher, who arranged to have the calf transported to Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba in recognition of his spiritual significance to aboriginal people.

A third white buffalo was born on the Heider farm (see "Miracle" above) on August 25, 2006. The male calf was named Miracle Second Chance and was unrelated to Miracle. The Heiders planned to breed the male with the descendents of Miracle, but during a thunderstorm late November 26, 2006, five buffalos on the Heider farm were killed in a lightning strike, including Miracle Second Chance.

On November 12th, 2006 a white buffalo was born at Woodland Zoo in Farmington, Fayette County Pennsylvania. Members of the Lenape Nation held a naming celebration on December 23rd, 2006 and the calf was officially named Kenahkihinén, which means Watch Over Us in the Lenape tongue.