By Russ and Tiña De Maris
A visitor to Yellowstone National Park got more than she bargained for after getting too close to a bison. The upset beast took off at high speed, straight toward the woman. She tripped and fell, while her companion continued out of range.
Other visitors yelled to the woman, urging her to play dead. She did. The bison roared up, stopped, and sniffed at the prone figure. Apparently losing interest, or figuring the two-legged creature wasn’t worth the effort, the bison kicked up its heels and headed off.
Bison, which can scale in at 2,000 pounds, are the largest land-dwelling mammal in the U.S. They can certainly do serious damage, and while we don’t have her word for it, they may also have bad breath.
The National Park Service gives this sage advice on bison encounters: “Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors,” the NPS said in a statement. “To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge.”
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Lucky this stupid act came out the way it did….Being farmers, I can’t tell you how many “daisy pickers” we find in with our spring calving cows,,,,DUMB,,,,this was a partially grown bison, lucky it wasn’t one of the mature bulls, or a cow with a young, young offspring. This should be used as a learning video of how to stay away from these animals.
Having worked with bison on a national wildlife refuge, I can’t tell you how many times bison COULD HAVE killed the ignorant person standing right next to them taking selfies. I scolded a father who let his 3-yr. old run up to one. He said he thought we (the wildlife officers) just let it off its LEASH!!! How can people be so dumb? If you look, the bison gave fair warning with the tail straight up. That’s bison-talk for “here I come.” But people don’t speak bison.
Incredibly selfless behavior by those two in trying – albeit unsuccessfully – to purge the gene pool.
Incredibly STUPID people. Very little sympathy had they been trampled
Next we’ll see someone wanting a pic next to a lion in a wildlife refuge somewhere . . .
As Ron White says you can’t fix stupid, this is the same thinking that milk comes from the store. City grown people think every animal is like a dog or cat, oh what a cute bison let me get a selfie of me and the bison.
The NP Rangers have a word for this – Tourons.
I liked the guy trying to pick up a log.
Those people should never have been that close to those critters to begin with. When I was in Yellowstone last year I saw some mind boggling stupid. Some people seem to be under the grossly mistaken impression that these wild animals are a bunch of giant trained pets put there for people to take selfies with. In one instance I saw some older people charged by an elk someone else had been pestering. They were unaware they were in trouble until some other people who saw what was happening yanked them out of harms way at the last possible second. Thankfully, they only ended up startled rather than punctured.
Have been going to Yellowstone since 1974 and it never stops amazing me the stupidity displayed by a few people who for some reason just don’t get it. A strange part is its seems to be getting worse every time I go. Why putting yourself in a position where you could possibly be injured or killed by a wild animal just to get a picture on a camera or cellphone is just not logical to me……………………………………………………………………………………………
Years ago my family spent over a week in Yellowstone, stayed at fishing bridge campground. When we entered Yellowstone via the Bozeman Montana entrance we were given a welcome brochure….it had a few warnings….first the National Park Service could not guarantee your safety while visiting Yellowstone and warned about the dangers Bison represented. This video illustrated just how stupid people can be.
I live in the Great Smoky Mountains….that Park also warns about Black Bears and Elk…warns to keep your distance…last year a watched a group of extremely stupid
tourists gathered at the base of a tree taking pictures of several Black bears up the tree they were gathered under while several other Black Bears approached
that tree……proving that you CAN’T FIX STUPID.
We who live in close proximity to YNP experience hordes of folks from other countries and American citizens (but mostly other countries) who have a mindset they are entering a “park” or petting zoo. Even tho they have been given instructions and literature when they pay the entrance fee at the kiosk, I guess it is ignored because every season there are incidents involving brainless people and bison (and other wildlife). You are right, you can’t fix stupid… they keep coming!
You live 2000 mi. from here so you don’t know the lay of the land as well as natives. Bozeman, MT is not an entrance to YNP. West Yellowstone, MT which is 85 mi. away is the West Entrance and Gardiner, MT which is 78 mi. away is the North Entrance.
Sure you can. Take them to grizzly country, stuff their pockets with raw meat and berries and send them out for a hike.
What the hell were they thinking get out there with them? STUPID………..Bet she never does that again!
We vacationed in Rocky Mountain National Park one time and SAW some incredibly STUPID , I Mean STUPID people messing around with a BULL ELK. With a FULL RACK.
Fortunately for these Idiots the Elk Didn’t charge them.
These are Wild Animals people and very unpredictable!
Saw something similar also at Yellowstone. Foreign couple got out of their car, big gestures lot of noise, Mr. Bison didn’t like it and headed their way. They made it to their car and Mr. Bison figured they were going and kept going toward a couple of motorcyclist. Those two did their best Flintstones impersonations to get out of the way. As Mr Bison past them, well, I didn’t know you could start a larger motorcycle in gear… ;-)… All lucky but bet there was laundry to do that night.
Lots of stupid out there…
Begs the question, “What were they doing walking around in a field full of Bison?”
I’m completely amazed by the object stupidity of people. I guess? If your urban or city raised “they” have no concept of animals in their habitat. It’s shameful, American’s have established themselves as the ultimate ”DUMB” on the globe!
Some people don’t remember that these bison are WILD animals. She was lucky that the bison didn’t stomp her.