BURNET, Texas (KXAN) — A Burnet ranch’s latest bundle of joy comes with an added twist, after welcoming a rare white bison calf last week.
Wagon Springs Ranch’s owner Carl Chambers told KXAN his ranch crossed two blonde-haired bison last year. This marked the mama’s first calf, and it’s made for a memorable experience, Chambers said.
“When me and my brother went into the brush, I saw her laying down and then I saw this big white thing next to her. And I was like ‘what is that?'” Chambers recalled. “And then I said, ‘oh my goodness!’ It’s just the whitest calf I ever saw. I couldn’t believe it. I was just amazed, I couldn’t believe it.”
Chambers named the calf “Unatsi,” the Cherokee word for snow.
The number of white bison existing today is unknown, officials with the National Bison Association shared last year.
Overall, there’s been a steady resurgence in the number of American bison alive today, after they nearly went extinct in the 19th century due to overhunting and slaughtering practices. An estimated 192,000 bison in the United States live in private herds and on ranches, per 2022 U.S. Department of Agriculture census figures.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature gave the American bison a “near threatened” classification in 2016, meaning it’s not a critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable species but it is near those thresholds.
The reverence many have toward the white bison traces back to Native American prophesies.
What is the significance of a white bison?
Archived reporting from AAA Native Arts detailed the story of the “White Buffalo Woman,” a messiah figure at the root of the Lakota religious system as well as white buffalo prophesies.
Under that belief system, it’s said the woman taught the Lakota people how the buffalo could help them sustain and endure. The oral belief said the woman gave them seven sacred rites to follow, akin to the Ten Commandments in Christian theology.
When she left, it’s said she was seen walking into the sunset before stopping and rolling over four times.
“The first time, she turned into a black buffalo; the second into a brown one; the third into a red one; and finally, the fourth time she rolled over, she turned into a white female buffalo calf before disappearing,” archived reporting from AAA Native Arts said.
The white buffalo came to represent peace and harmony — a belief Chambers said he wanted to honor.
“It can be an omen to some people, like peaceful times, good fortune, good luck,” he said. “It’s very important to Native people. And so we’re going to make sure that we do what we can to protect her, and hopefully she can live the rest of her life here.”
