Sacred white buffalo killed in Texas; reward offered by ranch for killer

A North Texas ranch is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest in the killing of its sacred white buffalo.

The rare white buffalo, a male calf named Lightning Medicine Cloud, was found slaughtered and skinned on April 30 on Lakota Ranch near Greenville, Texas, just shy of its first birthday. Its mother died the next day.

The ranch's owner, Arby Little Soldier, said he thinks the mother was poisoned. Little Soldier, the great-great-great grandson of Sitting Bull, was away on a trip when the white buffalo was killed.

"Someone who probably knew we were out of town killed him and stripped the meat," Little Soldier told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I think it was a professional hit on the mom."

According to the paper, the ranch and its supporters are offering $45,000 for information leading to the killer. According to the ranch's website, Native Americans "see the white buffalo calf as the sign to begin life's sacred hoop."

And they are very rare. According to the National Bison Association, just one out of every 10 million buffalo born are white.

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