Another naive tourist has been caught in the act – pushing their luck too far by getting too close to a wild bison in Yellowstone National Park.
Summer tends to bring out the best and the worst in tourists. This is especially true in Yellowstone National Park, where the dangers of the park’s landscapes and wildlife are selfishly ignored for a better selfie.
A recent incident of tourist disregard was captured on film. The video was posted in the Facebook group Yellowstone National Park: Invasion of the Idiots.
Taken in the Lamar Valley on August 7, the video shows a woman far off the beaten path near the Lamar River. A giant male bison approaches her in their usual docile manner.
Rather than backing away to the 25-yard minimum distance between bison and people, the woman stays put. She is seen using her phone, trying to capture images of the approaching bison.
In this case, even the bison agreed the woman was too close. The bison turns and aggressively charges toward the woman, telling her to back off.
Incredibly, even this isn’t enough to entirely deter the woman. Rather than backing or running away, she turns her back to the bison and walks further down the river.
Apparently, she continued to stand too close to the bison to take more pictures with her phone.
Luckily, there was one notable witness to this incident: a Yellowstone park ranger. While there is no word of any disciplinary action, a park ranger “saw the whole encounter.”
According to a 2018 study, bison injure one or two people in Yellowstone a year on average – usually when people approach the animals.
Bison are the most dangerous animals in Yellowstone National Park by a significant margin. Earlier this year, a woman hiking near Yellowstone Lake sustained severe injuries after a bison encounter.
Similar actions have led to significant federal charges. Samantha Dehring of Carol Stream, Illinois, faces two charges of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentionally disturbing wildlife, and violating closures and use limits. She was filmed getting too close to a mother grizzly and her cubs on May 15 of this year.
