Yellowstone National Park officials say a rare white buffalo sacred to Native Americans has not been seen since its birth on June 4. The birth of the white buffalo in the wild was the first recorded in Yellowstone history and is a landmark event for the ecocultural recovery of bison.
Miss Shoshnone-Bannock Queen Develynn Hall takes the stage during a naming ceremony for a white buffalo calf at the headquarters of the Buffalo Field Campaign in West Yellowstone, Mont., Wednesday, June 26, 2024. The reported birth of the calf in Yellowstone National Park fulfills a Lakota prophecy that portends better times.
Whether the calf — named Wakan Gli, which means “Return Sacred” in Lakota — is still alive is unknown. They confirmed the birth of the white buffalo after receiving photos and reports from multiple park visitors, professional wildlife watchers, commercial guides and researchers. But since June 4, park staffers have not been able to find it and officials are not aware of any other confirmed sightings in the park, one of the last sanctuaries for free-roaming American bison.
Mike Mease, a co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a conservation group that works with tribes to protect and honor wild buffalo and hosted this week’s ceremony, said he thinks the calf is alive somewhere in the park, away from the roads and walkways most visitors stick to. He said a grizzly bear seen by Yellowstone visitors earlier this month with five cubs, an unusually large brood, has not been seen since either.
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