To replace the rare white buffalo, Lightening White Cloud,  that was found dead and skinned at the Lakota Ranch near Greenville, Texas a few weeks ago, a woman in Oregon who has a large buffalo ranch where she specializes in breeding to produce white buffalo is donating a seven-year-old white buffalo bull to the ranch.
The hope is that the bull will breed with the current herd to produce another buffalo calf, sacred to many Indian tribes in Texas and Oklahoma.
Cynthia Hart-Button, the bull’s caretaker and the president of the
Sacred World Peace Alliance, is tight-lipped about the animal’s exact
arrival time because of transportation and security concerns. The
organization claims to have a record 14 white buffalo on its sanctuary
in central Oregon.
“It’s a sad tragedy,” she said of the calf’s
death. “So, instead of them thinking that they lost their hope, we’re
bringing their hope back in a different way.”
Hart-Button added that she
hopes the bull, named Chief Hiawatha, will produce another white calf
for the Lakota Ranch.
Hiawatha is, according to Ms Hart-Burton almost like a watch dog, as he growls when someone approaches who “is not good in spirit.”
“I’m sending it down to protect not only the buffalo but also to protect him
(Arby Little Soldier) and his family,” Hart-Button said.
According to Lakota Sioux lore, the goddess of peace once appeared in the form of a white buffalo calf.
As
a non-albino white buffalo, Lightning Medicine Cloud was revered by
Native Americans. Thousands of people of all races attended a naming
ceremony for the unusual calf last year, and Little Soldier called it
the “hope of all nations.”
Little Soldier said he found the calf
dead and skinned, a few feet away from where it was born a year ago.
Little Soldier said the calf’s mother, which was found dead and skinned
the next day, was poisoned. The calf’s father was struck and killed by
lightning in April.
The Hunt County Sheriff’s Department and the
Texas Rangers are investigating the calf’s death, and Little Soldier
said the Bureau of Indian Affairs is also involved.
“We’re
pushing for this to be a hate crime,” said Little Soldier, who wants
lawmakers to offer some kind of protection for the white buffalo. There
is also a reward that now exceeds $45,000.
Hart-Button said her organization doesn’t open its sanctuary up to the public because of safety concerns.
“We’ve been threatened, people have offered me millions of dollars for
their heads and hides,” she said. “I’ve even been offered money for
their meat. These are the rarest animals in the world.”
The peace
organization’s bull may not carry the same spiritual significance, as
Little Soldier said it was bred to be a white buffalo. But he said he’s
grateful and excited for the gift.
“These buffaloes represent
world peace, killing something that’s sacred is not what we’re supposed
to be walking,” Hart-Button said. “We’re supposed to be walking towards
peace, not going backwards.”
Little Soldier said he wants the
buffalo’s killers to know they may have destroyed the animal, but not
what he stood for. Little Soldier said he has received condolences and
concerned calls from as far away as Australia, Europe and Canada.
“They’ve opened the doors to him being bigger than ever,” Little Soldier said.
 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/lakota-ranch-in-texas-to-receive-gift-of-white-buffalo-bull-to-replace-one-recently-found-dead/2012/05/12/gIQAI