Yellowstone officials: Rare white buffalo sacred to Native Americans not seen since June 4 birth

Yellowstone National Park officials said Friday a rare white buffalo sacred to Native Americans has not been seen since his birth on June 4.

The birth of the white buffalo, who fulfilled a Lakota prophecy that portends better times ahead, was the first birth recorded in Yellowstone history and is a milestone in the bison’s recovery, according to park officials who first confirmed the birth.

It is an extremely rare occurrence: a white buffalo, also known as bison, is born once every million births in the wild, or even less often, the park said.

Whether the calf – named Wakan Gli, which means “Sacred Return” in Lakota – is still alive is unknown.

The park’s statement said that each spring about one in five calves die shortly after birth due to natural hazards, but officials declined to respond directly to questions about whether they believed the animal had died.

They confirmed the birth of the white buffalo after receiving photos and reports from multiple park visitors, professional wildlife observers, commercial guides and researchers. But since June 4, park staff have been unable to find it and officials are unaware of any other confirmed sightings in the park, one of the last refuges for free-ranging American bison.

Rangers who regularly work in the more accessible parts of the park, as well as in the backcountry, have not seen the animal, park spokeswoman Morgan Warthin said.

Indian leaders earlier this week held a ceremony in honor of the holy birth of the animal and give its name. Lakota members warn that the prophecy associated with the birth of the white buffalo is also a signal that more needs to be done to protect the Earth and its animals.

Suspicion about the calf’s fate has grown as weeks have passed without another sighting since his birth in the Lamar Valley, a prime wildlife-watching location in Yellowstone. Young buffalo can fall victim to predators, river currents, disease and other hazards.

Mike Mease, co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a conservation group that works with tribes to protect and celebrate wild bison and which organized this week’s ceremony, said he thinks the calf lives somewhere in the park, away from the roads and hiking trails that most visitors stick to. He said a grizzly bear seen by visitors to Yellowstone earlier this month with five cubs, an unusually large brood, also has not been seen since.

But the most important thing about the white buffalo is that a prophecy that is both a warning and a blessing has been fulfilled, Mease said.

“Whether dead or alive, the message has been passed down from heaven and times are different now. We need to make changes for the future,” he said.