Birth of Rare White Bison in Yellowstone Park Fulfills Lakota Prophecy

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The reported birth of a rare white bison in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times, according to members of the Native American tribe who warn it is also a signal that more must be done to protect the land and its animals.

“The birth of this calf is both a blessing and a warning. We must do more,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, and 19th keeper of the sacred pipe and bundle of the White Buffalo Woman.

The birth of the sacred calf comes after a harsh winter in 2023 that drove thousands of Yellowstone bison, also known as buffalo, to lower elevations. More than 1,500 of them were killed, sent to slaughter or transferred to tribes seeking to regain stewardship of an animal their ancestors lived alongside for millennia.

Erin Braaten of Kalispell took several photos of the calf shortly after it was born June 4 in Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of the park.

Her family was visiting the park when they spotted “something really white” among a herd of bison across the Lamar River.

Traffic stopped as the bison crossed the road, so Braaten stuck his camera out the window to take a closer look with his telephoto lens.

“I looked and it was a white bison. I was completely, completely stunned,” she said.

Once the bison left the road, the Braatens turned around and found a place to park. They watched the calf and its mother for 30 to 45 minutes.

“And then she kind of guided him through the willows there,” Braaten said. Although Braaten returned each of the next two days, she never saw the white calf again.

For the Lakota, the birth of a white buffalo with a black nose, eyes and hooves is akin to the second coming of Jesus Christ, Looking Horse said.

Lakota legend has it that about 2,000 years ago, when things were not going well, food was running out and the buffalo were disappearing, a white buffalo woman appeared, presented a tribesman with a pipe and a bundle, taught him how to pray, and told him that the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. As she left, she transformed into a white buffalo.

“And one day, when times get tough again,” Looking Horse said in recounting the legend, “I will come back and stand on the earth as a white buffalo, with a black nose, black eyes, black hooves.”

A similar white bison was born in Wisconsin in 1994 and was named Miracle, he said.

Troy Heinert, executive director of the South Dakota-based InterTribal Buffalo Council, said the calf in Braaten’s photos looks like a real white buffalo because it has a black nose, black hooves and dark eyes.

“From the pictures I’ve seen, this calf appears to have those features,” said Heinert, who is Lakota. An albino buffalo would have pink eyes.

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’s birth is scheduled for June 26 at the Buffalo Field Campaign headquarters in West Yellowstone.

Other tribes also worship the white buffalo.

“Many tribes have their own stories about why the white buffalo is so important,” Heinert said. “All the stories say that this buffalo is a very sacred animal.”

Heinert and several members of the Buffalo Field Campaign say they have never heard of a white bison being born in Yellowstone, which is home to wild herds. Park officials had not yet seen the bison and could not confirm its birth in the park, and they have no record of a white bison being born in the park before.

Jim Matheson, executive director of the National Bison Association, could not quantify the calf’s rarity.

“To my knowledge, no one has ever recorded the frequency of white bison births throughout history. So I don’t know how we can determine the frequency of these births.”

In addition to herds of animals on public lands or monitored by conservation groups, about 80 tribes across the United States have more than 20,000 bison, a number that has been increasing in recent years.

In and around Yellowstone, large numbers of bison are culled or killed nearly every winter under an agreement between federal and Montana agencies that limits the size of the park’s herds to about 5,000 animals. Yellowstone officials last week proposed a slightly larger population, as many as 6,000 bison, and a final decision is expected next month.

But Montana ranchers have long opposed expanding Yellowstone’s bison herds or transferring the animals to tribes. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has said he would not support any management plan to increase Yellowstone’s bison population above 3,000.

Heinert sees the birth of the calf as a reminder “that we must live positively and treat others with respect.”

“I hope the calf is safe and living its best life in Yellowstone National Park, exactly where it was meant to be,” Heinert said.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown contributed to this report from Billings, Mont.

Amy Beth Hanson, Associated Press