GREENVILLE, Texas - A white buffalo, an animal rich in the lore of Native Americans and sacred to many tribes, was recently born in Texas. Arby Little Soldier said the remarkable animal was born on his ranch near Greenville, about an hour northeast of Dallas, in the middle of a thunderstorm on May 12.
White buffalo are extremely rare. To be considered sacred they must also have certain markings.
“And that is black nose, black eyes and black-tipped tail. Not the pink eyes or the blue eyes or the pure albino,” he said. “This one here is the full one that’s counting now. He’d be the third. And the fourth in our Native American prophecy that is the end of the last days.”
Little Soldier would like the name the calf Lightning Medicine Cloud, but he must wait until tribal leaders from around the country gather at his ranch to determine what prophecy the animal brings.
The rancher grew up on a reservation in North Dakota. He said his great grandfather was the son of the legendary Chief Sitting Bull.
He and his wife now maintain a herd of about 1,600 bison in North Dakota, selling meat and byproducts. They keep just a small show herd in Texas.
The Little Soldiers believe the last true sacred white buffalo, a female named Miracle, was born in 1994 in Wisconsin.
“They called it back when Miracle was born a pilgrimage. And now we understand a pilgrimage of people who want to come and take the walk and see him in the right way but not a tourist attraction,” said Patricia Little Soldier.
