Photo: Erin Braaten/Dancing Aspens Photography via AP.
A rare white buffalo calf in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming on 4 June 2024.
In the early days of TV, a show we watched regularly was Rin Tin Tin. It featured a dog and a boy and the US Army patrolling out west. I’m sure there were many elements that would be considered offensive today, but you know, children pick up nice things from anywhere. I can still sing the song about the White Buffalo.
After a white buffalo was born in June, Oliver Milman wrote about the event at the Guardian.
“A rare white buffalo has been born in Yellowstone national park, with the arrival prompting local Lakota Sioux leaders to plan a special celebration, with the calf representing a sign of hope and the need to look after the planet.
“The white calf was reportedly spotted shortly after its birth … by park visitor Erin Braaten, a photographer. She took several shots of the wobbly baby after spotting it amongst a herd of buffalo in the north-eastern corner of the large park, located in Wyoming and a small slice of Montana.
“ ‘I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,’ Braaten told ABC News. ‘It was so surreal. I just knew it was something special and one of the coolest things I’ve ever photographed.’
“Braaten and her family watched the calf and its mother for another half an hour before coming back on each of the following two days to look for the white calf, but with no further sighting. …
“Members of the Lakota Sioux tribe will hold a ceremony to celebrate the arrival at the headquarters of the Buffalo Field Campaign, which advocates for the animals, in West Yellowstone on 26 June.
“The birth of a white buffalo holds a special significance to the tribe, according to the Buffalo Field Campaign. ‘The birth of this calf is both a blessing and warning. We must do more,’ said Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Lakota, Dakota and the Nakota Oyate in South Dakota, according to AP, referring to looking after nature and the environment.
“Tens of millions of buffalo once roamed the plains of the western US, only to be slaughtered on an enormous scale for their hides by settlers, hunters and traders in the 19th century, leaving just a few hundred of the animals unscathed.
“The mass killing of buffalo caused severe harm to native American communities that relied upon the animals as a sustainable food source, as well as being a key cultural touchstone.” More at the Guardian, here.
At a National Park Service (NPS) site, you can read a lot more about the legends surrounding the White Buffalo. For example: “To American Indians, a White Buffalo Calf is the most sacred living thing on earth. The calf is a sign to begin life’s sacred loop. Some American Indians say the birth of a white calf is an omen because the birth takes place in the most unexpected places and often happens among the poorest of people. The birth is sacred within the American Indian communities, because it brings a sense of hope and is a sign that good times are about to happen.” More at NPS, here.
If you go to the YouTube clip below, you will see many happy comments from people who loved the Rin Tin Tin episode about the White Buffalo when they were kids.
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