Sacred buffalo calf offers hope for species revival

With cream-colored fur and jet-black eyes, one of the smallest specimens of America’s largest native animals stumbles into the spotlight on trembling legs.

advocates hope A white buffalo calf was born in June – extremely rare event – That will translate into a decades-long new push for species resurgence in the U.S. Great Plains.

Many tribes believed the birth of the white buffalo was a divine omen symbolizing change. The calf was born into a herd that has also become an important cultural symbol—it is the last wild buffalo herd in North America.

The bison herd is entering a new chapter in its life as management of the species again comes increasingly under the scrutiny of Indigenous communities and advocates push for an increase in bison numbers.

The American buffalo, also known as bison, once numbered in the tens of millions before becoming endangered in the 1800s. Now, the only wild animal population in the United States is limited to 5,000 animals.

But tribes and bison advocates see an opportunity as Yellowstone, America’s first national park and home to the white calf, considers proposals to expand the size of its bison herds for the first time in decades.

The white calves add spiritual significance to the efforts of buffalo advocates as they test the long-standing status quo, in which government policies prioritize beef ranching over indigenous tribes’ beliefs.

Just after noon on June 4, Yellowstone Photography Tour Guide Jordan Creech spotted a newborn white buffalo calf taking its first steps in the park’s Lamar Valley while sightseeing with a client. step.

Bison calves can walk within two minutes of birth and spend the first seven minutes of their lives running with the herd.

“This is the most unique experience I’ve ever had,” Creech said.

Erin Braaten, a Native American photographer from Kalispell, Montana, also witnessed the first moments of a calf’s life before disappearing into the herd.

“I thought I had a better chance of catching Bigfoot than a white buffalo calf,” she told BBC News.

For the past 2,000 years, people of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakoda tribes have told the story of a woman who came here in time of need.

One version tells the story of two scouts searching for food and buffalo in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The mysterious woman appears, offers their tribe a bundle of sacred gifts, including a pipe carved from red rock, and instructs the people on how to live and pray.

After several transformations, she transformed into a white buffalo with a black nose, black eyes and black hooves. As she left, large numbers of buffalo returned to feed the people.

Dozens of other tribes have stories of the white buffalo, interpreting its arrival as blessings and warnings.

Chief Avor Changma is the spiritual leader of the Lakota tribe and is known as the guardian of the “sacred bundles” – the bundles and pipes left by the gods. He compared the return of the white calf to the second coming of Christ.

Mawang, 70, said that before she left, the woman told people that “when everything is sick and bad, when people are in a bad mood,” she would come back as a little white buffalo.

“This is the spirit. It means the spirit is happening,” he added.

The white calf was officially celebrated June 26 by more than 500 supporters at an event outside West Yellowstone. Nearly a dozen tribes were represented.

Together they heard the calf’s name – Wakan Gli, which means “Holy Return” or “Holy” in Lakota. Three buffalo skulls and three buffalo robes are placed on the altar to mark this moment.

Waemaetekosew Waupekenay, 38, who traveled from Wisconsin to attend on behalf of the Menominee Nation, said the birth of the sacred calf was a spiritual awakening.

Its arrival, he said in amazement, shows “there’s a lot of healing, there’s a lot of love around.” People are coming together.

Yellowstone National Park rangers have confirmed the birth of the white bison, but the rangers themselves have not reported any sightings.

The National Park Service said in a statement on June 28 that “the birth of a white bison calf in the wild is a milestone event in the ecological and cultural recovery of the National Park Service’s bison,” and confirmed that it was found in Yellowstone Park. The first white bison.

They added that this “may reflect the presence of a preserved natural genetic heritage among bison in Yellowstone, which has been revealed due to the successful recovery of wild bison populations”.

“The National Park Service recognizes the importance of white bison calves to American Indians,” it added.

The Yellowstone bison are the only wild herd in the United States and one of the last genetically pure bison in existence.

But Yellowstone National Park’s capacity often reaches the 5,000 people allowed by law.

Tribes supporting the species’ growth have stepped in, believing its health is tied to their own history. Since 2019, the National Park Service has transferred 414 healthy bison from Yellowstone to 26 tribes in 12 states through the Bison Conservation Translocation Program.

Locals also have their own allotment system for sharing buffalo, independent of the park’s efforts. Since 1992, the Intertribal Buffalo Council, a group of 83 tribes dedicated to “restoring cultural, spiritual and historical relationships with the animals,” has sent 25,000 bison to tribal lands in 22 states. 65 herds.

“People don’t understand or realize that what happened to the buffalo also happened to the indigenous people and that the histories are intertwined,” said Jason Baldes, vice chairman of the commission and a member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe. ) explain.

Returning the buffalo to tribal people marks a significant change in federal policy for a country whose soldiers had been ordered to kill the buffalo en masse to deprive the tribes of food and supplies.

Officials aren’t just returning the animals, they’re considering taking on more responsibilities themselves: The National Park Service just completed an environmental impact study for Yellowstone and determined that the herd size should be increased from 5,000 to 6,000 animals, but can accommodate as many as 10,000 . This is the first time in 24 years that the park has proposed a price increase.

The growth of the buffalo herds is made all the more remarkable by the fact that as many as 60 million American buffalo have been killed in the fight for ownership of the U.S. frontier.

Unlike the Aboriginal people, who used almost every part of the animals for food, shelter, etc., the settlers killed them with impunity, taking the pelts and leaving the bodies to rot.

By the 20th century, there were fewer than 1,000 bison in the wild.

Large-scale cattle farming has taken over the vacant land, and commercial interests remain a source of conflict between those who want to see wild buffalo roam as before and the livestock industry.

Ranchers and the state’s Republican governor oppose the Park Service’s proposal to expand the herd, fearing that a disease called brucellosis, which about 60 percent of Yellowstone bison carry, could infect the herd and erode profits. Rate.

The Montana Cattlemen’s Association, which opposes the plan, warned that the new policy could lead to “an exponential increase in the bison population.”

Elk are also known to transmit brucellosis to livestock but do not face the same restrictions as bison.

Mike Mease of the Montana nonprofit Buffalo Field Movement said the dispute “is part of the old ranch wars of the West, over forage and which animals can eat it.”

Yellowstone officials have previously acknowledged that the dispute over bison management is a complex challenge involving multiple competing interest groups.

“This is probably Yellowstone’s most challenging wildlife issue,” park ranger Cam Sholly told The New York Times last year. “Bison are the only species we restrict within our borders.”

But to the tribe, the birth of the white calf is proof that more needs to be done to support bison. The fact that the calf comes from Yellowstone gives it extra spiritual significance.

“Yellowstone [herd] It’s the purest, wildest buffalo—the only one left in the country.

“This is Mother Earth’s message through the animal kingdom.”