An extremely rare white buffalo was found dead in Texas because of bacterial infection. Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said the buffalo's owner initially thought the rare buffalo was mutilated and skinned.
Meeks however says that the case is closed now and the calf actually died of an infection.
The calf's name was Lightning Medicine Cloud and he did in May on a ranch about 50 miles northeast of Dallas. The ranch owner, Arby Little Soldier reported that he found the calf skinned and thought it had been killed in a hate crime.
The death of the buffalo gained international media attention with one Oregon organization even planning to donate a white buffalo from its herd.
The calf was revered by native Americans and a white buffalo is extremely rare. According to the Lakota Sioux tribe, the goddess of peace had once appeared in the form of a white buffalo.
The sheriffs office was notified about the death of Lightning Medicine Cloud six days after the buffalo died as Little Soldier wanted to speak with the elders in the tribe before contacting authorities.
The investigation uncovered that two more buffalo had died at the ranch since May and investigators believe that blackleg, which is a bacterial infection was the culprit.
Meeks said the investigation revealed two more buffalo have died at the Lakota Ranch since May. He said investigators believe blackleg, a bacterial infection, was responsible for all of the deaths.
"It lays dormant in the land, said Meeks to the Associated Press. "It's very preventable by vaccination. We were not told by the Little Soldiers that these two had died."
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