May 04, 2012

Sacred white buffalo killed and skinned?

Lightning Medicine Cloud, Sacred White Buffalo, Killed and SkinnedAccording to a Fox News report, the extremely rare and sacred white buffalo born last year has been found dead and skinned along with its mother.

Lightning Medicine Cloud, born May 12, 2011 on a stormy night at the Lakota Ranch in Greenville Texas, was a natural white buffalo—an extremely rare occurrence, happening an estimated once per ten million births. In June, a naming ceremony attracted over 2,000 visitors to the ranch, and a report on the proceedings cited beliefs held by some Lakota that the calf was the third white buffalo ever, and the first male in 150 years. Such a white buffalo is tied to the story of White Buffalo Calf Woman, and is the most sacred animal, perhaps the most sacred thing on the planet, to the Lakota people.
And:The owners of the Lakota Ranch have released the following statement to Indian Country Today Media Network (the original news report follows it):

To my fellow Native Brothers and Sisters in Indian Country,

Lightning Medicine Cloud, a true spiritual blessing was born at the Lakota Ranch on May 12, 2011. He now has joined his earth father and our heavenly father, and Lightning’s mother, Buffalo Woman, also went on to join her son one day after Lightning left the earth.

There is an internal investigation through Hunt County Sheriff and Homeland Security in process, and a $5,000 reward offered for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the premeditated crime deaths of Lightning Medicine Cloud and his mother, Buffalo Woman. Thus far, the investigation has concluded that neither were killed by natural causes.
Comment:  I'm guessing the skinning part was a big clue that the buffalo didn't die of natural causes.

This sure sounds like a hate crime of some sort. I'd be amazed if the culprits claimed they picked these buffalo at random. They killed the mother as well as the calf, which suggests targeting these particular animals.

I wonder who might be guilty of the hate. Young hoodlums? Disgruntled ranchers or hunters? Or your garden-variety KKK/militia types who think anything other than Christianity is devil worship.

For more on the subject, see White Buffalo Hunt in Texas, White Buffalo = Third of Its Kind? and White Buffalo Calf Born.

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