White Buffalo

[slick4591]

Not something you see everyday.

http://heraldbanner.com/topnews/x162512 ... Greenville

[Isomade]

I have a friend that managed a herd of buffalo for a Doctor. Getting a white buffalo was the only reason he had them. Supposed to be very lucrative.

[slick4591]

And a sad ending.

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/18147547/ ... ed-sheriff

[Kathie in Thorp]

See the following link, third notation down I think. One of my uncles worked at the Nat'l Bison Range in MT for many years. I saw the "White Medicine" bull when I was young -- late 50's. I was able to ride one of the Range buffalo horses with him, on the Range, in the 80's. (Those are coooool horses. Not your cutting horse horses; they are fast and quick and are trained to stay clear.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_buffalo

But the story continues . . . At the Range, the directive was sent: the handlers were NOT to try to pro-create animals that were not the proper type. "Proper" is not the right word -- breed specific type. WHITE is not proper with bison. Nor are albino/albino marked elk. Both were at the Nat'l Bison Range in Moise, MT. Anyway . . . . . . After "Whitey," as he was known to the employees at the Range in MT was born, a directive was put out that, although he was an oddity and popular with tourists and Natives, HE WAS NOT type-specific, and NO efforts were to be made to re-create another one like him. Wasn't long before one of the Range employees put Whitey in with his mother, and the next year she produced a totally albino bull calf -- white as white could be, and blind. They paired him with a young beef steer calf, that acted as his "guide dog." Eventually, the bison and beef calves went to a zoo on the east coast together, where (as I recall the story), the albino bison calf died from a wire in the gut problem. My uncle wrote a book about his life/times at the Nat'l Bison Range.

[dun]

Crap like that makes me wonder what the h__l is wrong with some people!

[Kathie in Thorp]

Here's Uncle Ern's book: http://www.stoneydale.com/product_info.php?products_id=329

I helped him edit this, and I"m mentioned, but I don't think the last edit was what was actually published -- too many bad spellings.

[TexasBred]

Slick I just saw that on Channel 4 at noon today. Hope they catch the sob's.

[dun]

Slick I just saw that on Channel 4 at noon today. Hope they catch the sob's.

AND HANG THEM BY THEIR APPENDAGES!

[Kathie in Thorp]

Slick I just saw that on Channel 4 at noon today. Hope they catch the sob's.

AND HANG THEM BY THEIR APPENDAGES!

As you said, Dun!

[john250]

I want these people prosecuted when they are caught. The sheriff's statement that it is up to the tribe leads me, in Indiana, to ask how these things work in the states with significant native populations. The report is inconclusive as to "who done it". Could it have been a tribe member? who might have a market for a hide? I know there are some rich Native Americans. Nouveaux rich = desire for pricey status symbols.
Is this going to vanish into tribal affairs?
I mean no offense to anyone who has a native perspective on this. I'd welcome any response from that angle.

[Kathie in Thorp]

John, I'm thinking that maybe this happened on tribal land?? And that's why law enforcement will follow with them. Property crimes on tribal lands are most often "sovereign state" matters -- to be dealt with via the local tribal law enforcement agency.

[john250]

John, I'm thinking that maybe this happened on tribal land?? And that's why law enforcement will follow with them. Property crimes on tribal lands are most often "sovereign state" matters -- to be dealt with via the local tribal agency.

That helps, Kt.

[Kathie in Thorp]

John, I'm thinking that maybe this happened on tribal land?? And that's why law enforcement will follow with them. Property crimes on tribal lands are most often "sovereign state" matters -- to be dealt with via the local tribal agency.

That helps, Kt.

Don't know that -- just thinking that, if other law enforcement agency is deferring to the tribe.

[Jogeephus]

Slick I just saw that on Channel 4 at noon today. Hope they catch the sob's.

AND HANG THEM BY THEIR APPENDAGES!

If you didn't have any rope would three nails and a shoulder high stump be alright?

[Kathie in Thorp]

Jo, and all on this topic -- white buff calves are a rarity; they are religious symbols to our Native Americans, a scourge for some, and dollar-makers to others. To me, it's critter-stealing/rustling. If you'd hang someone for stealing any other bovine, than you can hang one for killing a buffalo. If you wouldn't for one, then you shouldn't for the other. Bison are now part of the commercial world, just like beef. Sorry, but that's the way it is. You can buy them from commercial breeders, or put in a bid on a "wild" one when they auction at round-up first weekend in Oct. every year at Moise, MT -- those wild ones are vaccinated and BANGS tested. Big hoopla every year at Yellowstone, when their wild, never tested or vaccinated buffs move into cattle country, and some get shot. "Wild" meets "cattle management."