{"id":28317,"date":"2024-06-12T02:52:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=28317"},"modified":"2024-06-12T02:52:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T07:52:53","slug":"reported-birth-of-rare-white-buffalo-calf-in-yellowstone-park-fulfills-lakota-prophecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=28317","title":{"rendered":"Reported birth of rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone park fulfills Lakota prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HELENA, Mont. \u2014 The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe<\/a>, who cautioned that it\u2019s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,\u201d said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and the 19th keeper of the sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman Pipe and Bundle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The birth of the sacred calf comes as after a severe winter in 2023 drove thousands of Yellowstone buffalo, also known as bison, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to reclaim stewardship over an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born on June 4 in the Lamar Valley in the northeastern corner of the park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her family was visiting the park when she spotted \u201csomething really white\u201d among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic ended up stopping while bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck her camera out the window to take a closer look with her telephoto lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI look and it\u2019s this white bison calf. And I was just totally, totally floored,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the bison cleared the roadway, the Braatens turned their vehicle around and found a spot to park. They watched the calf and its mother for 30 to 45 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then she kind of led it through the willows there,\u201d Braaten said. Although Braaten came back each of the next two days, she didn\u2019t see the white calf again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo calf with a black nose, eyes and hooves is akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lakota legend says about 2,000 years ago \u2014 when nothing was good, food was running out and bison were disappearing \u2014 White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member, taught them how to pray and said that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she turned into a white buffalo calf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd some day when the times are hard again,\u201d Looking Horse said in relating the legend, \u201cI shall return and stand upon the earth as a white buffalo calf, black nose, black eyes, black hooves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar white buffalo calf was born in Wisconsin in 1994 and was named Miracle, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Troy Heinert, the executive director of the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council, said the calf in Braaten\u2019s photos looks like a true white buffalo because it has a black nose, black hooves and dark eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the pictures I\u2019ve seen, that calf seems to have those traits,\u201d said Heinert, who is Lakota. An albino buffalo would have pink eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A naming ceremony has been held for the Yellowstone calf, Looking Horse said, though he declined to reveal the name. A ceremony celebrating the calf\u2019s birth is set for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters in West Yellowstone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other tribes also revere white buffalo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany tribes have their own story of why the white buffalo is so important,\u201d Heinert said. \u201cAll stories go back to them being very sacred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heinert and several members of the Buffalo Field Campaign say they\u2019ve never heard of a white buffalo being born in Yellowstone, which has wild herds. Park officials had not seen the buffalo yet and could not confirm its birth in the park, and they have no record of a white buffalo being born in the park previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, could not quantify how rare the calf is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo my knowledge, no one\u2019s ever tracked the occurrence of white buffalo being born throughout history. So I\u2019m not sure how we can make a determination how often it occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides herds of the animals on public lands or overseen by conservation groups, about 80 tribes across the U.S. have more than 20,000 bison, a figure that\u2019s been growing in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Yellowstone and the surrounding area, the killing or removal of large numbers of bison happens almost every winter,<\/a> under an agreement between federal and Montana agencies that has limited the size of the park\u2019s herds to about 5,000 animals. Yellowstone officials last week proposed a slightly larger population of up to 6,000 bison, with a final decision expected next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But ranchers in Montana have long opposed increasing the Yellowstone herds or transferring the animals to tribes. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has said he would not support any management plan with a population target greater than 3,000 Yellowstone bison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heinert sees the calf\u2019s birth as a reminder \u201cthat we need to live in a good way and treat others with respect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope that calf is safe and gonna live its best life in Yellowstone National Park, exactly where it was designed to be,\u201d Heinert said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELENA, Mont. \u2014 The reported birth of a rare white buffalo in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the American Indian tribe, who cautioned that it\u2019s also a signal that more must be done to protect the earth and its animals. \u201cThe birth of this calf is both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[2316,28978,28979,5389,28977,28137],"class_list":["post-28317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-birth","tag-lakota","tag-prophecy","tag-rare","tag-white-buffalo","tag-yellowstone-national-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28319,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28317\/revisions\/28319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}