Rare white buffalo Lightning Medicine Cloud was not butchered

Lightning Medicine Cloud. Photo: Kathy Old Crow

It turns out the mysterious death of Lightning Medicine Cloud, a rare white buffalo, is not such a mystery after all.

The Hunt County Sheriff’s Department closed the case Tuesday and announced that the calf died from a bacterial infection.

Lightning Medicine Cloud was found dead in May 2011 at his home at the Lakota Buffalo Ranch near Dallas. The ranch owners and investigators said at the time that Lightning Medicine Cloud had been mutilated, skinned and butchered.

But Tuesday it was announced that none of that is true. The investigation revealed that the buffalo had been dead for six days and that it had been buried for three days before it was discovered. Someone apparently confused decomposition with mutilation.

Lightning Medicine Cloud’s death caused quite an outrage. A white buffalo is a rare animal and is considered sacred to the Lakota Sioux.

Normally, the death of a buffalo wouldn’t be news. But because of the animal’s religious significance to American Indians, just about every law enforcement agency in Texas was called in to investigate, including the Texas Rangers.