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Posted on Tue, Nov. 28, 2006

Lightning kills rare white buffalo in Wisconsin
BY DAVID HAWLEY
Pioneer Press

The rare white buffalo was named Miracle Second Chance when it was born on a Wisconsin farm last August during a massive thunderstorm.

On Monday, "Chance" was buried after being killed by lightning and buffalo farmers Dave and Val Heider of rural Janesville were trying, as mourners often do, to find something meaningful in the loss.

"It's so ironic," Val Heider said today. "There was a crack of lightning that lit up the sky on the day he was born and the same thing happened on the night he died."

The short life — Chance lived three months and one day — had renewed interest in the Heider farm, home for a decade to Miracle, a white buffalo born there in 1994.

During Miracle's 10-year life, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visited the 45-acre farm in southern Wisconsin. The visitors included Indians from North America, Inuit from northern Canada, Aborigines from Australia and even Tibetan monks.

For American Indians, in particular, Miracle was seen as the living embodiment of an ancient legend about the origins of sacred rites and the promise of a dawning era of peace and harmony.

The Heiders, then and now, never charged an admission fee, though they eventually converted a metal shed into a museum to accommodate crowds that sometimes numbered 2,500 a day.

Miracle died in 2004 and life began to return to normal at the farm. When Miracle Second Chance was born on Aug. 25, Val Heider sighed and exclaimed, "Here we go again."

On Sunday night, however, the white calf was with a herd of calves and buffalo cows in an upper pasture when a lightening storm swept across the farm.

"It wasn't even raining, but it was like daylight outside," Val Heider said. "The thunder cracked all the way across the sky."

The following morning, Dave Heider discovered the bodies of two cows and two calves, including Chance, all lying together near a tree. Burn marks indicated the cause of death.

Val Heider said the white calf has been buried next to the grave of Miracle, though the two animals are not related. Insurance did not cover the loss because it's considered "an act of God," she said.

"I didn't stay on the farm yesterday because I didn't want to answer the phone," Val Heider said. "It's still gloomy around here today. But life goes on."