Rare white buffalo gets dignified sendoff

Indigenous elders and others came together in the blistering heat Wednesday morning to perform a sacred pipe ceremony in honour of a rare white buffalo at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

Blizzard died July 24 after spending nearly 20 of the 21 years of his life at the zoo.

Charlene Moore, 33, was visibly emotional during the ceremony, saying she came to watch in honour of the animal she felt had guided her throughout her life.

“I feel oddly connected to them, even though we didn’t spend that much time together, but I always thought about them every time I came to this part of the city,” she said of Blizzard.

Moore visited Blizzard whenever she got the chance and was very upset to hear about his death, but said she was happy he’s being honoured.

“I think a lot about the history of the buffalo and how we have a shared history,” she said. “We have a very similar experience of colonization, and they teach us so much, and I’ve been so lucky to learn from them.”

The buffalo represents respect — one of the seven sacred laws in Indigenous culture.

Elder Mike Pierre, 57, whose traditional name is Buffalo Man, took part in the pipe ceremony and said the buffalo has been integral to his life for 30 years.

“The first name I ever got was Buffalo Spirit Man,” he said.

His connection began in the late 1990s at Riding Mountain National Park.

He said he watched a herd of buffalo all moving in the same direction, but one calf was falling behind with its mother. Both were at risk of predators in the area, but then a male buffalo came and guided them back to safety.

He said this helped teach him more about his role as a protector in his family.

“I was learning more about who I was,” he said.

Pierre said it was difficult to watch Blizzard spend his life in captivity and he respects the animal for having persevered.

“As hard as our lives may be, we still have value and we can still live our sacredness and do our job,” he said.

The community came together as soon as people heard about Blizzard’s death, said Jace Pratt, 44, who was participating in the pipe ceremony.

For Pratt, the buffalo represents endurance and moving forward in the face of challenges.

He said he never got the chance to see Blizzard, but he grew up singing traditional songs about the white buffalo.

He said the lessons of the animal are important to Indigenous family systems.

“By honouring the buffalo here today, we’re not only honouring the buffalo, but the symbol behind it, which is family union,” he said.

Blizzard was given to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in 2006 by an anonymous rancher, said Chris Enright, senior director of zoological operations.

He said they are still doing tests to determine Blizzard’s cause of death, but do not typically release such results.

Enright said fewer than one in 100,000 buffalos are white, and the whole team at the zoo cared deeply for Blizzard.

“There’s a real close relationship we start to form with these animals, and as they enter their golden years and pass away, we really have a process of grief and loss,” said Enright.

Buffalos have an average lifespan of 15 to 20 years in the wild but often live longer in captivity.

At 21, Blizzard had been at the zoo longer than the span of Enright’s whole career. He said the animal will be missed by everyone.

tiago.resko@freepress.mb.ca