The Calgary zoo held a special ceremony to welcome a new, rare resident on Monday morning.
Blizzard, the white bison, is on loan to the Calgary zoo from the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg for the next five months.
The 3-year-old male bison is leucistic and not an albino, meaning that he has a defect in pigment cell differentiation that results in his white hair color.
White bison's have a special significance for First Nations Plains People and elders from several Treaty 7 Nations were on hand to welcome Blizzard.
"It's a rarity and it's very powerful and very spiritual to us just like the eagle," said Kelly Good Eagle from the Indian Events Committee.
Blizzard was born in March of 2006 on the farm of an anonymous rancher who gave him to the Assiniboine Park Zoo as a calf in recognition of his spiritual significance.
