Yellowstone officials: Rare white bison sacred to Native Americans hasn’t been seen since it was born June 4

Related video: Tribes honor birth of rare white bison in Yellowstone, reveal his name, Wakan Gli

Yellowstone National Park officials said Friday that a rare white bison sacred to Native Americans has not been seen since its birth June 4.

The birth of the white bison, which fulfilled a Lakota prophecy of better times, was the first recorded in Yellowstone’s history and is a milestone for the bison’s recovery, park officials said in confirming the birth for the first time.

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

It is not known whether the calf, named Wakan Gli, which means “Sacred Return” in Lakota, is still alive.

The park’s statement said that each spring, about one in five calves die shortly after birth due to natural disasters, but officials declined to answer questions directly about their perception of death.

The white bison’s birth was confirmed after receiving photos and reports from several park visitors, professional wildlife observers, commercial guides and researchers. But since June 4, park staff have been unable to locate it, and officials are unaware of any other confirmed sightings in the park, one of the last remaining sanctuaries for free-roaming American bison.

Rangers who regularly work in the park’s more accessible areas, as well as in its backcountry, have not seen the animal, park spokesman Morgan Warthin said.

Native American leaders held a ceremony this week to honor the sacred birth of the animal and give it its name. Lakota tribesmen warn that the prophecy of the white buffalo’s birth is also a signal that more must be done to protect the Earth and its animals.

Suspicions about the calf’s fate are growing as weeks have passed without another bison sighting since his birth in the Lamar Valley, a prime wildlife viewing spot in Yellowstone. Young bison can be prey to predators, river currents, disease and other dangers.

Mike Mease, co-founder of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a conservation group that works with tribes to protect and honor wild bison and which organized this week’s ceremony, said he believed the cub was alive somewhere in the park, far from the roads and trails most visitors use. He said a grizzly bear spotted by Yellowstone visitors earlier this month with five cubs, an unusually large brood, has not been seen since.

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

“Whether he is dead or alive, the message came from heaven and times are different. We must make changes for the future,” he said.