Native tribes welcome rare white buffalo calf at Yellowstone ceremony

WEST YELLOWSTONE, Mont. — Sage burned on the shores of Hebgen Lake as indigenous tribal leaders marched in procession Wednesday morning to honor the birth of a baby white buffalo.

They sang songs and danced in a sacred ceremony under cloudy skies as hundreds of spectators watched in silence.

The arrival of the rare white calf this month in Yellowstone National Park was, according to tribal tradition, both a blessing and a warning to the world.

“Mother Earth is sick and has a fever,” said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Oyate, known as the Great Sioux Nation. “This is the fulfillment of our prophecy.”

The young buffalo, which tribal leaders called Wakan Gli, or Sacred Return, was likely in the wild with its mother during the ceremony on sovereign Shoshone-Bannock lands near Yellowstone National Park.

Her birth is considered the second coming of the white buffalo calf woman, who first appeared to the Lakota thousands of years ago when buffalo were rare and people were hungry.

She taught the Lakota to pray and honor the Earth through ceremony, and promised to one day return as a white bison with black eyes, nose, and hooves.

“I will return to earth when nothing is good,” she told the Lakota people, Looking Horse said. “His message is loud and clear right now.”

Preservationist and tribal advocate Devin Old Man said the white calf comes at a time of great peril for people around the world, especially for tribes who are increasingly isolated from each other and of the world around them.

“It’s hard to be indigenous these days,” he said. “We need to take a broader view.”

Bison have long held near-mythical status in the United States, even outside of tribal culture. They were declared the nation’s first mammal in 2016 when President Barack Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act.

Every year, millions of tourists travel to Yellowstone National Park to see these majestic animals, which were once hunted to near extinction.

Their numbers declined significantly throughout the 19th century, but the population is slowly rebounding thanks to conservation efforts.

In Montana, however, buffalo face a number of constraints that threaten them despite their popularity.

They are not allowed to move outside of designated areas, including onto private land, without permission from the landowner. Last year, a severe winter storm chased nearly 2,000 buffalo from the park to lower elevations. They were killed or transferred out of the area.

“These are the last remnants of the 30 to 60 million bison that once lived on the continent,” said Mike Mease, co-founder of the conservation group Buffalo Field Campaign, which works to prevent the slaughter of bison.

Mease estimates that only 5,000 bison currently live in Yellowstone.

“This is where the buffalo should roam,” he said, pointing to the lush valley filled with meadows and streams.

In South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is working to increase the bison population in hopes of reintroducing it as a primary source of nutrition, said Ryan LaBeau, chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

“We want to give this food back to our people,” he said.

The birth of the white calf has stunned not only the tribal communities but also the visitors to the national park.

Photographer Jordan Creech said that in all the years he has been leading tours through Yellowstone, he never imagined he would stumble upon the birth of a sacred animal.

But on June 4, while leading a group of tourists through the park, observing badgers, bears and other wildlife, he came across a scene like no other.

An American buffalo, or bison, was running along the road with its amniotic sac protruding from its belly. Creech knew she was about to give birth and tried to follow her. But the mother-to-be swam across a river and disappeared over a hill.

Some time later, Creech spotted the bison, this time with its new calf. But unlike most newborns which have a red-orange coloring, this calf was white.

“I know how important it is to Native people,” said Creech, who was among the first to take photos of the white calf. “I’m still processing. It seems unreal.

Looking Horse said he grew up hearing stories about the White Buffalo Calf woman and hoped she would not return under his watch because that would be a sign the world needs healing.

A white calf was born in Wisconsin in 1994, he said, and he remembers feeling both fear and terror when scientists began warning the world about the effects of climate change.

The fact that another was born 30 years later seems prescient as heat waves and wildfires spread across the country, the chief said.

“I can’t believe this is the second warning,” he said, adding that the Earth is a source of life and not a resource to be exploited.

Bison have been an integral part of tribal culture for generations, providing an important source of food, clothing, fuel, tools, shelter and spirituality.