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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – What started out as a joke ultimately turned into a good thing for the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown.

It all started when Faux Pelini, a parody account named after former Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini, lost a bet to the NDSU Football Twitter account. The account then symbolically adopted a buffalo from some other organization in honor of the lost bet. The account now has over 447,000 followers.

According to museum board member Paul Olson, this got the ball rolling on what would turn out to be a good thing for the museum.

“I tweeted something about how the Museum should name a calf after him because of his newfound love of bison,” Olson informed. “After a give and take, that got some attention from the Twittersphere. We agreed to name a calf Carl, after Carl Pelini, Bo’s brother who is also a football coach.”

@BuffaloMuseumND could we name it Carl? please

— Fake Bo Pelini (@FauxPelini) September 18, 2016

The exchange brings us to April 11th when the first calf of 2017 was born. Illana Xinos, Executive Director of the National Buffalo Museum, states that they have now used the fun social media exchange to help out the museum.

“We’ve created a GoFundMe account to raise money for the cost it takes to maintain the herd over the year,” Xinos reported. “It takes around $7,500 for feeding, maintenance, and volunteers for a year to maintain our 30 bison.”

The joke has also spurred a fake award from the museum.

“If we reach our goal, we will honor Faux Pelini with the “Herdsman of the Year Award” for 2017,” Xinos jokes. “We would like the award to become a real thing. It will go to an individual who donates their time and money to those who take time to help out at the museum.”

Click here for the gofundme account. Cover photo courtesy of the National Buffalo Museum.