BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo

Subject: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST,C'est la guerre
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 09:56 PM

I'm copy/pasting only because you need to register to get the story. And because I thought you all should know.

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."

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Amos
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:01 PM

Jaysus...if you were inclined to be superstitious this would be a world-class opportunity!!!



A

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:17 PM

That's really sad. Wonder if it will be seen as an ill omen for our species and environment.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:20 PM

"The visitors included Indians from North America ... " Imagine that - they came all the way from North America to Wisconsin!

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:28 PM

Well, Wisconsin is kind of a world unto itself, right? ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Nov 06 - 10:50 PM

"Indians from North America" (although I am sure it was put that way to differentiate them from people from the sub-continent of India) just points up the absurdity of calling US aboriginal people Indian. I understand that is what many first Americans prefer to be called but the whole thing stems from an error and it is silly to perpetuate it. IMO

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 12:16 AM

"I understand that is what many first Americans prefer to be called but the whole thing stems from an error and it is silly to perpetuate it."

They must not be aware of the error, and they must need someone like you to point it out, and make them aware of how silly they're being. I find that Native people really appreciate that sort of thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 01:16 AM

But it's just a word. And people are accustomed to it. They interpret it by its context, and they know darned well you don't mean people from India when the context of the discussion makes it obvious that you don't. Buffy Sainte-Marie recorded several songs in the 60's and 70's in which she refers to Native Americans as "Indians", because that's what everyone she knew called them at the time, incuding her relatives on the reservation. Who has better credentials than she does in this respect? It's only changing social styles (driven by the political rhetoric of someone who perhaps thinks they are cooler or more "hip" or in the know than most other people at the time) that determine what words are deemed appropriate by whom in what decade...and it's a tempest in a teapot, frankly. It doesn't frikkin' matter. I say this because I've lived nearly 60 years, been close to the Native American issues for most of that time, and seen how these fads, these catchwords come and go...just like the fads have come and gone for what the heck to call Blacks/negroes/African-Americans/colored people/etc (who aren't black at all....they're brown)...gays (who are not always gay, but can sometimes become morose just like the rest of us)...and so on, and so on. Blah, blah, blah. So everyone runs around in a panic, trying to make sure they use the latest word so as not to "offend" somebody with a giant chip on his shoulder. Sheesh. I had some friends, 20 years ago, nice well-meaning suburban people, very liberal and kindhearted, who in their desperate anxiety not to offend anyone had taken to calling people from Pakistan "Pakistanians"...they were under the false impression that the real word for someone from Pakistan..."Pakistani"...was an offensive word. They had it confused with the word "Paki"...which WAS the common insult word being used toward Indo-Pakistani people at the time. So here they were in all innocence calling Pakistanis "Pakistanians" in order not to offend anyone. It was sad. It's the kind of thing that happens when people have gotten so paranoid about this kind of petty labelling stuff that they begin to suffer a form of what I would call "dis-ease". It doesn't help establish brotherhood.

Sorry Ebbie, Dianavan...I have to disagree on this one. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 01:40 AM

little Hawk, surely you are not confusing me and dianavan? Funny thing is that I don't think we sound anything alike and yet our identity has been mushed together before.

For the record, I disagree with YOU. OK? It's not a serious issue with me but to me it is if people in Mexico were called Eskimos- all because the first explorer thought he had hit the Arctic coast.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 03:08 AM

Nope, I'm not confusing you two. You have both objected to use of the word "Indian" in referring to the people of the many, many North American (and South and Central American) nations of people that were here before the Europeans arrived. You objected to it on this thread, Dianavan has objected to it on some others...but not on this thread so far. I thought she had been on this thread for some reason (must have been reading her on another thread), but I was not confusing her with you, as such, cos both your individual identities are quite clear to me. I was addressing both of you.

So I guess we'll agree to disagree. ;-) I'm way too big a Buffy Sainte-Marie fan to ever stop thinking of Native Americans as not being "Indians". I'm gonna have to die and be born again before they stop being "Indians" as well as "Native North Americans" in my mind. Either way is fine with me. Neither term is pejorative, and that's the only thing that matters, as far as I can see.

A 3-syllable name works better anyway than a 6-syllable one does. If you're a songwriter, you know that. ;-) Guess why people say "miles" in song lyrics instead of saying "kilometres" (the official term in Canada and all of Europe except the UK)...

I always thought the term "Afro-American" was a bit silly...for basically the same reason...but there was a time when various bossy people would insist that you say it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 03:58 AM

Over 70% of bison don't like being called Buffalo.

A spokesbison said, We object to being linked in name with that place. They won't let us in the rest rooms, the doors are too narrow....they don't make allowances for the big boned.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 06:00 AM

Looks like he cashed in his chips!
G.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 06:28 AM

Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, about 70 miles north of Wichita Kansas, is home to the largest Buffalo herd in Kansas, and until a few weeks ago had about 200 head. A report in yesterday's (28NOV2006) local paper indicates that nearly one-fourth of the herd has been killed by a "new disease" that has invaded. The ailment, Mycoplasma bovis, is a bacterium that causes penumonia, mastitis, and arthritis in cattle, and was first detected in some U.S. cattle in the 1960s.

The buffalo have no prior exposure or resistance, making this attack particularly virulent.

In the past few weeks, 47 have died and an additional 3 are suspected of being infected. The disease is spread by droplets from sneezing and/or by nose-to-nose contact between animals, so maintianing separation (and quarantine) is sufficient to avoid any risk to other bovines. The herd of about 50 elk at the Maxwell Preserve do not appear to be affected.

A vaccine for cattle is available and it has been given to the remaining buffalo, but it's effectiveness in buffalo is not known.

The annual sale of "excess stock," usually held in November, has been cancelled.

Bad year for buffalo, and for those for whom they hold a special place.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 10:49 AM

"Bison gals, won't you come out tonight,
And dance by the light of the moon?"

(lol, weelittledrummer)

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 02:02 PM

Just don't call them "humpers". ;-) They get furious when you do that.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 07:41 PM

For the record, I am an African-American German North-American-Native.

That is, I was born in Minnesota, so that makes me a native of North America. The name Oesterreich is German (where my not-too-far-back forebears came from) up to here, meaning "Austria". And I'm human, and that means my ancestors originally came from Africa.

But I'm not black, nor am I Indian (in either sense). I didn't call myself Austrian (despite the name) only because I don't really know whether any of my ancestors came from that country.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: frogprince
Date: 29 Nov 06 - 11:05 PM

Isn't Oesterreich an Australian name?

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 12:09 AM

No, it's German. It means "Austria". But you knew that, right? ;-)

I am a Native American, Native Canadian, English-Scottish, Czech, male human being who has by now been incarnated in every race on Earth and in either gender variously at different times, so who gives a flip!

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 03:36 AM

If there was some sort of union between countries starting with 'Austr', they could have the best chocolate cake and beat us at cricket.

In fact there a village called Austrey outside Tamworth, they could have that as the administrative capital.

I've only seen an Amerian bison once, at Whipsnade Zoo. Very impressive. I wish we had a few more of them around the place. There aren't a lot of them in England.

Oesterreich - is that literally the Kingdom in the East. A bit like Lincolnshire.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: The Sandman
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 03:54 PM

what is wisconsin like.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 05:41 PM

Lots of guns, lots of bush country for hunting in, lots of Republicans, lots of unemployment...and a decent chance of meeting (or getting shot by) Ted Nugent when you go out deer hunting.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 05:58 PM

Oester reich, as far as my limited German goes, I believe works out as Eastern Kingdom, but I'm probably wrong on that!
G.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 05:59 PM

Yup, that's what it means: Eastern Kingdom

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 06:30 PM

Little hawk, your description sounds like Michigan, not Wisconsin.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST,memyself
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 06:49 PM

Wisconsin is like Michigan, only moreso. Or is it the other way around? Anyway, one of them is just like the other only moreso.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 09:53 PM

It's us in Michigan who are blessed (?) with Nugent as a neighbor; that in itself may make us the "moreso".
Got trapped in a buffalo herd driving in a state park in South Dakota; it's true you can't roller skate; can't drive, until they clear away, either. One old bull kept eyeing our car, snuffing and snorting, and I wasn't sure we weren't in for some major dents; but he finally ambled away.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 10:04 PM

Hmm. Yeah, maybe I was thinking of Michigan... (grin) They have some nice countryside there, but ya gotta watch out for Ted.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Nov 06 - 10:46 PM

I like the way Keith Secola and others spell "Indian:" Click

AND, his song NDN Cars, "considered the contemporary Native American anthem." (It's live and takes a couple of minutes to get into it..it's a long, live rendition. Not my favourite version. I prefer the one no his CD "Circle."

NDN KARS
Music and lyrics by Keith Secola

Verse 1.
I've been driving in my Indian Car
Hear the pound of the wheel drumming in my brain
My dash is dusty, my plates are expired
Please Mr. Officer, let me explain
I got to make it to a Pow Wow tonight
I'll be singing 49, down by the riverside
Looking for a sugar, riding in my Indian Car

Verse 2.
Got my T-bird in the glove box, I ain't got no spare
Got a feather from an eagle, I ain't got no care
The road is empty in my bottle of desire
Daylight is breaking, the sun touches fire
I got to make another Pow Wow tonight
I'll be singing 49, down by the riverside
Looking for a sugar, riding in my Indian Car

Verse 3.
My car is dented, the radiator steams
One headlight don't work, the radio can scream
I got a sticker says "Indian Power"
I stuck it on my bumper, that's what holds my car together
We're on a circuit of an Indian dream
We don't get old, we just get younger
When we're flying down the highway
Riding in our Indian Cars

Repeat
We're on a circuit of an Indian dream
We don't get old, we just get younger
When we're flying down the highway
Riding in our Indian Cars
Riding in our Indian Cars
Riding in our Indian Cars

Chorus

Copyright © 1992 AKINA/Keith Secola
All rights reserved.

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Dec 06 - 03:04 AM

Ah-hah! Very cool. I've seen those cars.

Sounds like a lot of the cars in Cuba too... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 01 Dec 06 - 11:40 PM

...and the little white buffalo was seen by some to sprout a set of ghostly buffalo wings and then ascend to heaven where, because it was way too heavy for those minute chicken wings, it crashed and died again ---so to speak. It's now referred to as a "died again chicken"---which I figure is something like a born again christian---but it tastes better.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Dec 06 - 01:37 AM

*groaning with laughter*

Another classic Thieme!:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lightning strikes twice, kills buffalo
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Dec 06 - 08:44 AM

Well done, Art - you're in rare form!

Seriously, this is sad, but the hope the buffalo inspired and the attention it received aren't insignificant.