The birth of a rare white bison - the odds of which are said to be one in 10 million - is creating some excitement on a ranch in North Peace Country.

The buffalo was named Spirit of Peace.

The owners of the Blatz Bison Ranch, in Fort St. John, just across the Alberta border in British Columbia, say the white buffalo calf was born prematurely on April 17.

Native legend holds that the white bison is a harbinger of peace and unity - a symbol of hope, rebirth.

He got his name because he was born north of Peace River.



Onward...To Spirit of Peace's Website!

Awww
Now that is a cute buffalo. I hope they can keep him alive until adulthood. Reminds me of a Charles Bronson movie.

thats gonna look wicked when its older

I think Buffalo are just naturally ugly.. but this one.. may have a little hope yet.

Well I hope the legends are true, there is so much negativity in this world.

I like the new buffalo nickels. "tu"

He may not stay white, they change colors as they age. It's actually pretty cool how it ties into the lore, they turn the colors of the worlds people. The last one went from white -> black -> red -> yellow:

http://www.homestead.com/WhiteBuffaloMiracle/

I heard on the radio at about 5pm today that it recently died due to a fever. It stopped eating, and developed a fever, they tried to feed it electrolytes, but it didn't make it.
Heard this on CKNW AM980 in Vancouver B.C.

wow how sad!! it looked kinda cool too!

I guess it won't become The Great White Buffalo then.....

You beat me to it Red-eye Dragoon. It is too bad about the little fella, but, from what I have read, very few of the white buffalo survive. An astrologically small number. I believe my source is going to be the San Diego Zoo, but I don't have it right here. I will see if I can dig it up.

Part of me wonders if one of the reasons that it got sick was due to the fact that they took it away from its mother. I know that in humans, the mothers breast milk is crucial in the first few [weeks/months/a year?] to help stave of some disease and help build immunity to others. I haven't done any research, but does anyone know if this is true in other mammals. I don't see why it wouldn't be. Too bad they didn't leave it alone, since they didn't seem to do any better a job than the mother and mother nature would have.

Thats messed up i thought about visiting a white buffalo one day maybe even this one, since it is so rare.

Well its true for us humans that babies need the mothers milk to build up the immune system, it would not suprise me if all mammals depend on mothers milk as young ones.

Poor lil fella. I wanted you to be big and strong when you grew up.

Poor baby; it's true that although very few white buffalo are born, even fewer actaully survive infancy.

Well, the article did say that it was born prematurely, so that probably had something to do with it. But it was cute, and I feel sorry for its mother, even though it is an animal. I have a strange fascination with white animals, so it would have been awesome if it had survived.

Awww.....how cute.

so that means you like white people better? just kidding

Haha, no, I just like the gene for albinism. I saw a white alligator down in the zoo in New Orleans, LA, it was just so beautiful and amazing...big too.

Yeah I was planning to go visit this summer, we're going to be driving to Alberta anyway.

I wish they could have done something to save the poor lil buffalo. It was soo cute too...

it wo'nt stay white forever will it?the one that was born here a few years back,changed colors did'nt it?

Yes.. someone posted that a bit back into the thread.
It changed to several colors.