Just this past Monday a story had broken that had outraged and horrified a lot of people around the world. It told of a canned hunting ranch in Texas that was offering the opportunity to kill a white buffalo for $13,500. The white buffalo has long been a sacred animal to the Native American people. The story exploded all over Facebook and the feedback from it reached the owner of the ranch.
Late on Tuesday, Aaron Bulkley, the owner of the ranch, contacted the Indian Country Today Media Network and discussed the issue. He is aware that the white buffalo is sacred to the Native American people and although he claims to have had the picture and the white buffalo hunting offer on his website for 3 years, he has decided to take it down and no longer offer hunting on the white buffalo.
Aaron Buckley also stated the white buffalo are not as rare as is believed. He claims there are multiple breeding ranches of white buffalo all over the U.S. Although the rarity of the white buffalo was also brought up that was not the main contention of the protest against the killing of these white buffalo. It is however true that the number of white buffalo has definitely increased in recent years according to Dan Sharps, a biologist at the National Bison Range in Montana. The increase in the percentage of white buffalo can be attributed to better knowledge about genetics and breeding.
James Swan is a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member and President and Founder of United Urban Warrior Society. He explains that “Our goal is to bring this awareness, to shut this down. The eagle is also sacred to our people but it’s also a national emblem so it’s protected. We need to get the same status for the white buffalo to become a protected species. Not buffalo in general but just the white buffalo. If they keep exploiting this, all it’s going to do is create more, longer animosities between the indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous peoples. In our Lakota ways our creation story starts with the white buffalo. Over the centuries the white buffalo, to us, is a very sacred part of our culture and part of our spirituality. Our people didn’t have a written language. Everything was passed down through stories over the centuries and white buffalo was a center part of everything we do.”
Late on Tuesday, Aaron Bulkley, the owner of the ranch, contacted the Indian Country Today Media Network and discussed the issue. He is aware that the white buffalo is sacred to the Native American people and although he claims to have had the picture and the white buffalo hunting offer on his website for 3 years, he has decided to take it down and no longer offer hunting on the white buffalo.
Aaron Buckley also stated the white buffalo are not as rare as is believed. He claims there are multiple breeding ranches of white buffalo all over the U.S. Although the rarity of the white buffalo was also brought up that was not the main contention of the protest against the killing of these white buffalo. It is however true that the number of white buffalo has definitely increased in recent years according to Dan Sharps, a biologist at the National Bison Range in Montana. The increase in the percentage of white buffalo can be attributed to better knowledge about genetics and breeding.
James Swan is a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member and President and Founder of United Urban Warrior Society. He explains that “Our goal is to bring this awareness, to shut this down. The eagle is also sacred to our people but it’s also a national emblem so it’s protected. We need to get the same status for the white buffalo to become a protected species. Not buffalo in general but just the white buffalo. If they keep exploiting this, all it’s going to do is create more, longer animosities between the indigenous peoples and the non-indigenous peoples. In our Lakota ways our creation story starts with the white buffalo. Over the centuries the white buffalo, to us, is a very sacred part of our culture and part of our spirituality. Our people didn’t have a written language. Everything was passed down through stories over the centuries and white buffalo was a center part of everything we do.”
VIDEO: White Buffalo: An American Prophecy
What type of person (?) would even go to a "canned hunting ranch"?? Certainly, NOT a "hunter".
i sent a letter to the texas state senator about this kind of stuff happening in our state and included the original post from this with that letter. I am native american and to me the killing of any buffalo or wolf is wrong as they are sacred animals in our beliefs.
This needed to stop. I am glad that it was addressed. The pictures and the story was horrifying. Non natives need to realize how this affects us, and need to be educated on our heritage and scared ways.. Wado ~
There is another hunting lodge in Nebraska that is offering White Buffaloe hunts. It is White Elk Ranch, http://www.whiteelkranch.com/index.htm. According to their website, they are now the "only ones that offer White Buffalo hunting." Is this an old website or do we have to make this one public also?
Those Guys Better Not Hunting White Bufs!
Thank you, White Wolf.
Because people like you cared, and voiced their concerns, a difference was made for the positive. Let us always speak up when there is an injustice, and create positive changes for all our relations.
The very idea of a canned "hunt" makes me furious. The people who participate in them are, in my opinion, either completely despicable, immoral, psychotic or all of the above.
When all the trees are cut down all the waters polluted all the fish gone then and only then will people realize that u cannot eat money! Old Cree proverb...
Canned hunts happen every day. This is no different than the supposed albino deer a young man shot & received death threats for. I see people having upsets over whale hunts but because it's traditional it's ok. I call bullshit. It's OK for one race to hunt a certain animal but not another. Hmmmmm
Are they actually eating these animals or killing for sport... to hunt deer is one thing they a so LARGELY OVERPOPULATED.... THE BREED LIKE RABBITS. But to HUNT A SACRED ANIMAL IS NOT OKAY.. WHALE HUNTING AGAIN.... NOT OKAY IT TAKES WHALES A LONG TIME TO HAVE A SPAWN THEY DON'T HAVE 12 AT A TIME. WHALES HAVE 1 CALF... LIKE HUMANS... HARD TO REPOPULATE A SPECIES WHEN THERE BEING KILLED OFF FASTER THAN THEY CAN BREED WITHOUT STRESS...