Crown jewels of Manitoba

The Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba is home to not just one rare animal, but rather two.

A white black bear, and a white buffalo.

Both are amazing creatures. Although the way each animal got there is very different.

Earlier this week I wrote a post about not feeding wildlife. I told about a fox that had been hit by a car trying to get human food on Mount Rainier. Need more proof? How about the story of Maskwa.

There are many emails that get forwarded around the Internet. One of the more popular ones features this photo:

It shows a mother black bear with her cub, who is white. Not albino, white. There is a difference. in no pink eyes.

The cub was born in the spring of 2004, and by June 2004, word spread that this mother and female cub could be seen along the highway in Canada. People flocked to see, feed, and photograph them. And just like the people weren't supposed to do, they started feeding the pair. In July 2004 the cub's mother was hit by a car and killed while getting food.

The young cub, that wouldn't have survived on its own in the wild, was taken to the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

Maskwa's light fur color is due to the lack of pigment of black hair pigment called melanin.

So again, don't feed the wildlife. View them from a distance and leave them alone.

But Maskwa isn't the Assiniboine Park Zoo's only crown jewel. So is Blizzard.

Blizzard is a white buffalo (or North American Bison).

Here's a picture of him as a calf:


Blizzard's story isn't sad like Maskwa's. But rather one of happiness.

The white bison has long been a legend among people of the mid-west.

Here is what Dr. Robert E. Wrigley, Curator, Assiniboine Park Zoo wrote about Blizzard's trip to the zoo on their Web site:

As the Curator at the Assiniboine Park Zoo, it is my responsibility to acquire new animals for our conservation and interpretive programs. In 2006, I was in the process of arranging an exchange of European Bison with a rancher in the United States, when he informed me that a white calf had been born in June 2005 in his large herd of Plains Bison. His animals originated from the herd in Custer State Park, South Dakota. I immediately expressed interest in acquiring this white calf, since it would draw many people to the Zoo. The Buffalo is Manitoba’s Provincial emblem, and historically played a prominent role in the livelihood and culture of First Nations, Métis, and European traders and settlers. I thought that Manitobans and visitors would appreciate being able to see and learn about this rare White Buffalo. While I had heard about Miracle and Big Medicine – two other famous White Buffalo born on ranches in Wisconsin and Montana – I must admit I had no idea of the great spiritual significance of such an animal. I gave the calf his English name Blizzard not only due to his color, but because he arrived in Winnipeg during a fierce snow storm on March 6, 2006.

Read the rest of Blizzard's story here and more about the legend of the white buffalo here.

When I was younger, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I had been told stories of the white black bear. And on travels through North Dakota I was told about the white bison. These are two very special creatures, that are very rare. Yet, have somehow found their way to the same location.