Woman donates white buffalo to ranch in honor of slain calf

An Oregon rancher was so saddened by news of the slain baby white buffalo on Lakota Sioux land in Texas earlier this month she is donating one from her organization in its honor. Cynthia Hart-Button, of the Sacred World Peace Alliance, a white bison sanctuary that breeds the animals, said she hopes the 6-year-old bull, Chief Hiawatha, will protect the family and produce another white calf for the Lakota Ranch. The baby buffalo, Lightning Medicine Cloud, was a rare animal celebrated by Native Americans as the "hope of all nations," and tribal lore says the goddess of peace once appeared in the form of a white buffalo calf. Thousands attended the small creature's naming ceremony last year, and the organizers expect thousands more at a memorial this weekend.