The reward has increased ninefold to $45,000 in last week’s deaths of a rare white buffalo, considered sacred by its Lakota Sioux owner, and its mother on a ranch near Greenville.
Lightning Medicine Cloud and his mother, Buffalo Woman, were killed just shy of the white buffalo’s first birthday.
Arby Little Soldier, great-great-great grandson of Sitting Bull and owner/operator of the Lakota Ranch, said Monday that he found the calf slaughtered and skinned April 30 after returning to the North Texas town from an out-of-town trip to Oklahoma City.
“Someone who probably knew we were out of town killed him and stripped the meat,” Little Soldier said. “I could tell it was him because of the white hair that was left on the head and tail.”
He said the mother appeared ill Monday, but eventually fed, and he concentrated on taking care of her calf’s remains. He found her dead the next morning, “about a 20-foot radius from where she gave birth to Lightning.”
He wasn’t sure how Buffalo Woman died, but speculated that she had been shot with a poisonous arrow because of a small mark. No arrow was found.
“I think it was a professional hit on the mom,” Little Soldier said. “It was a slow death.”
The Hunt County Sheriff’s Department, the Texas Rangers, the Bureau of Indians Affairs and other agencies are investigating the deaths. More here.…