Yellowstone bison are beautiful to observe, but dangerous if you get too close, as a California woman painfully discovered/NPS file
A 72-year-old California woman who wanted a closeup of a bison got much too close and was gored in return, Yellowstone National Park staff announced Monday.
The unidentified woman was staying at the Bridge Bay Campground in the center of the park and approached within 10 feet of the bison to take its picture last Thursday evening and was gored. Rangers provided her with immediate medical care before she was flown via helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, a park release said.
“The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet,” said Yellowstone’s Senior Bison Biologist Chris Geremia. “Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors, like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn’t make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge. 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.”
Rangers were continuing to investigate the incident Monday and had no additional information to share.
This was the second incident in the park this year in which a visitor got too close to a bison. On May 20 another woman was knocked to the ground, but didn't sustain any serious injuries.
Park regulations require visitors to keep their distance from wildlife. Guidelines call for visitors to stay 25 yards (23 m) away from all large animals - bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, and coyotes -- and at least 100 yards (91 m) away from bears and wolves.
Comments
Stories of this sort always bring such an inspiring outpouring of empathy and understanding. Was the woman's behavior foolish? Clearly yes. Despite the signs, despite the warnings, despite the, to many at least, common sense of it all, she made some bad decisions and received an unsurprising response. But it's also true that thousands of years of "civilizing" has placed a chasm between most people's understanding of nature and the reality of nature, and all the signs in the world sometimes can't overcome that. People behave foolishly in all sorts of situations (I, for example, can't fathom that people are getting on airplanes in the midst of pandemic), and while I agree this woman behaved irresponsibly, responding to the goring of a 72 year woman with "natural selection at work!" reveals just as much about human nature as her actions did.
We lived on tha Canadian Forces Camp, at Wainwright Alberta, at the entrance we had a Buffalo paddock, they are majestic animals, but very aggressive durin calving in the sping.I would never want to get close to them , they are very big ,don't take any BS from anyone and will not hesitate to attack
the mistake the visitor made is quite obvious to everyone especially to the injured party without the 15 yard personal foul comments for piling on unnecessarily. When we all make similar mistakes in our lives and we will ,hopefully it won't cost us our lives or have people being so unapologetically virtuous and self congratulatory. No understanding
Yes, buy and use a telephone lens. And always stand behind a person between you and any wild animal.
As a former rough country rancher, I can add that, if you were a walking freezer load of high graded, ultra-lean steaks, chops, and roasts and your family tree had spent the last ten thousand years roaming amongst wolves, lions, and bears, you wouldn't necessarily be too hesitant about attacking either.
I have to agree with an earlier 'Disneyland' comment - something I have been saying for years. The smaller parks seem to attract a larger percentage folks in for the experience of nature, while the larger parks often draw for the spectacle. We live near Yosemite National Park and so many tour buses come through with folks from all over the world who may also be visiting Hollywood, Disneyland, Las Vegas on the same bus tour. People often don't take the awesome wildness of the park seriously, having seen the breathtaking photos and wanting to take their own. How many times have we heard of someone falling into the Grand Canyon, or off Vernal Fall, for a photo op?
While my heart goes out to the family of this woman, empathy aside, this article was not an obituary but rather a cautionary tale about how people need to respect the wildness of nature. We've seen too many sad tales like this one.
Well unfortunately we share the same land!
Why do people infringe on the natural rights of wild animals? Sorry she got hurt but REALLY?!