Cody the buffalo from 'Dances With Wolves' dies

If there’s a buffalo heaven, it must be a vast grassland pocked with Oreo cookie bushes beside streams foaming with German beer.

They were Cody’s favorites.

Cody, the All-American buffalo born on July 4, 1987, and raised by Minnesota ranchers for a life of travel and fame — highlighted by a starring role in “Dances With Wolves” — died Thursday from complications of kidney failure.

He was 19, not bad for a breed more likely to be processed into steaks, burgers and jerky by the age of 2. “About two weeks ago, he stopped finishing his feed,” said Valerie Shannon. She and Mike Fogel kept Cody at their Money Creek Buffalo Ranch near Houston, Minn.

“We had some blood work done, and it showed that his kidneys were failing,” she said. “We tried a lot of things, but this week we were having to force-feed him. He was uncomfortable, and it was time.” Cody was buried Thursday — with a fresh package of Oreos — on the ranch.

In addition to appearing in “Dances With Wolves” — he was the charging buffalo “shot” by Kevin Costner as it thundered toward an unhorsed Indian boy — Cody also appeared in the film “Radio Flyer,” on TV with Jay Leno and in several commercials. Last spring, he traveled with Fogel to the U.S. Mint in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the unveiling of a new buffalo-head nickel.

“Everybody knew Cody,” said Karla Kinstler, secretary of the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce, which delighted in the busloads of tourists who came to see him. “He was such a huge, impressive animal — and so mellow.”

Cody grew to 7 feet tall at his hump and weighed just over a ton, but he was a bottle-feeding, puppy-sized calf when Fogel brought him home from near Cody, Wyo., in the cab of his truck after buying a small herd. Cody’s mother had rejected him, but Fogel gave him the run of his ranch kitchen, then taught him to accept riders and roam in parades.

He preferred people to other buffalo, his owners said, and may have been under the impression he was a dog ... a very big but well-behaved dog.

After Cody’s Hollywood debut, Euro Disney tried to buy him for a Wild West show, reportedly offering more than $100,000. Fogel wouldn’t sell.

In an e-mail announcing Cody’s passing, the family said that if fans have pictures or videos of him, “we would appreciate a copy for his memorial,” which has not been scheduled but will be open to the public. The address is Money Creek Buffalo Ranch, 32488 Cody Drive, Houston MN 55943.