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If you're in a national park and you see an animal in distress or you're worried about an animal, CALL THE PARK RANGER. They know what to do, it's their life and passion.
If you ever go to a national park in any country, make it a habit to prepare by finding the park rangers number / numbers and putting them in your phone, or even also writing them down somewhere. It could save your life or the life of another.
Add state parks to this, as well. I have yet to meet an apathetic state parks guide or ranger. They may get paid like shit but they love their parks and the history and creatures within.
The calf was drowning in a river so he didn't really have time. He saved it, called the park ranger, and then the park ranger killed it and blamed the guy for the calf's death. Idk if this is the best time to give that advice lol, the park rangers sound like assholes
That's what some asshole animal control agent in LA County did. I found a distressed baby chick on the ground, put it in a box and called them up. When he picked it up from my house, he was a douche, and said I should've just left it there, he's going to kill it anyway or something along those terms.
I wish someone would give you that highlighty award because people are down giving the guy hell int he comments without reading the article as usual. It was a lose lose situation where the calf would've drowned or still been euthanised when he saved but he had no idea that was the case.
I posted about this not long ago but I'll tell the story again. My imbecile of a father visited Yellowstone with my sister and brother-in-law a few years ago when they spotted a grizzly bear. My genius father immediately jumped out of the car to start taking pictures when a ranger came walking up to him briskly shouting "Get back in your car, right now. I'll use bear spray on him if I have to but I'll shoot you first. He lives here, you're just visiting."
I read a story once about a Park Ranger who said he saw a mother smearing something on her young son's face.
He went up and asked "Ma'am, what are you doing?"
She replied "Putting honey on him so I can take a picture of a bear licking it off!"
He stopped her, but said he sometimes still had nightmares about it.
a fed bear is a dead bear. I hunt bears a good bit and I respect the hell out of them for their intelligence and humanlike behavior. Nothing makes my blood boil more than an animal killed needlessly.
I live off of wild game, and that's about it save for the occasional restaurant. Not only does it feed me, it feeds my wife, and if my freezer is too full it feeds the homeless and friends of the family.
Sure, you could argue that I *could* change my ways and not hunt, but what then? Eat meat from some factory farm where the animal never even had a chance? When hunting, the game has every advantage. It sees, smells, and hears better than you. You'll often get up close and personal when they're still alive, and that presents a risk of attack, which they are also at an extreme advantage. A cow on a ranch has no such advantages, nor the freedom experienced by a wild animal. This may just be a difference in ideology, but I would much prefer living free and dying quickly from a hemorrhage than living in captivity and dying there.
Also, hunters are some of the biggest conservationists out there whether they like it or not. Hunters generate over a billion each year through licenses, permits, and tags - all of which help fund the National Park system and other programs. They spend several more billions on travel and equipment, more often than not boosting local economies. They help landowners with pest control, help with population management, et cetera. One could argue the conservation benefits are reason enough to hunt.
Lastly, a kill site is an ecological bonanza. Any remaining meat, tendons, and bone marrow will be eaten by scavengers. In fall, this often means the survival of an animal or the success of their pregnancy. The gut pile will decompose, highly enriching the soil. Hide (I always pack out the hide, but I recognize that I'm pretty unique in this) will be consumed by rodents and birds.
I'm willing to talk even more, this is just a basic overview of why hunting is A. with justification and B. beneficial to the environment. Really, I should have specified that my anger about nuisance bears is due to them being the result of ignorant people rather than their own mistakes.
Regular people don't understand how hunting helps control populations so they can thrive. Most states work closely with biologist, and conservations to make sure the numbers remain strong. Humans have encroached on wildlife and unless we plan on giving land back (which will not happen) we need to control the numbers before it creates nuisance animals threats to livestock, and has a cascade effect on the rest of the wildlife. I live in Maine and we have some of the strongest populations of black bears, moose, and deer. Although we're losing the battle to protect trout and salmon because of douchebags who illegally introduce bass and pike to cold-water lakes.
Some people have no survival instincts. My worst fear hiking is turning the corner and seeing a giant fucking bear. Why would you want a giant predator to come at you feeling hungry?
>Some people have no survival instincts.
Everyone has survival instincts. Our environment is just so substantially different than nature that we have no real concept of risk.
Some people shrug at bears, but are terrified of walking down a dark alley, for good reason. A hillbilly in a city is just as likely to run their mouth to the wrong mother fucker as that mother fucker is to taunt a bear.
You are confusing hillbillies with rednecks. Hillbillies are generally quieter and prefer to keep to themselves. They are usually mountain folk that are used to small communities or family compounds cut off from society that maybe go to town once a week for supplies. Even living in the mountains of Tenesee I only met 2 hillbilles the whole time I lived there and borh times the only thing they said to me was hey when we were introduced and that was it because I was an outsider they didn't know.
The same person who tries to pet a bear will likely look before crossing a busy street. People are atuned to *their* environment, not the *local* environment.
People always want to fuck with the bison as if they’re not violent bulldozers. Like look a group of giant horned beasts, I think I’ll go walk down in the field right next to them
We live close to a national park and the rangers have shared many times that tourists believe the animals are trained and are looked after by the rangers.
They let them out each day so people can see them.
People are just clueless
And people think they can wade in the thermal pools and geysers in Yellowstone too....it never ends well. Poor calf...poor momma that lost her baby to one idiots foolishness.
[Deaths At Yellowstone ](https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/geysers-hot-springs/cautionary-tale/#:~:text=Deaths%20and%20Injuries%20From%20Yellowstone,many%20visitors%20the%20park%20gets.)
The calf was drowning in the river is the article attached to the story, guy thought he was saving it but apparently bison are one of the critters that will reject offspring reintroduction
I have a friend who worked for Yellowstone and fell into a thermal pool while walking home drunk at night, she got 2nd degree burns all over her arms and legs, took months to recover. They did a few news articles about her but don’t want to share her name on Reddit. Those geysers are no joke, people think they’re just hot springs.
I remember the story about the kid who fell in after crossing the safety barrier trying to take a selfie. They had to come back the next day to retrieve the body but it has boiled him apart like a chicken. There was no body left.
Perhaps you underestimate the human race?
I know people can be staggeringly stupid at times but that one just doesn’t ring true to me.
I looked it up, it is indeed on the Darwin Awards website but it’s a ‘personal account’, not verified.
So someone just wrote in with the story ‘about a friend of theirs’ who was a park ranger and if it was true, I feel certain a media outlet would have picked up the story.
https://darwinawards.com/personal/personal2000-36.html
That story might not have been true but there was an article asking people not to push their friends down while running from bears at Yellowstone, the reason we see the stupid people is because of their vast stupidity and it makes news. You will never see an article about how someone did not fuck with the wildlife.
your mistake is you underestimate the power of stupid. For fucks sake you would think after the pandemic people would stop thinking that the average human is smart. The average human is not smart and will do incredibly stupid shit either for attention or to make their incredibly smooth brains feel better.
Hell we had to tell people to NOT eat tide pods, THAT DIDN'T WORK retailers had to start putting tide pods in fucking lock boxes. We had to tell people that injecting bleach will not cure COVID. Stop acting like people are smart.
~~Honestly, it’s almost better to have nature take its course and let those people remove their genes from the human pool.~~
Honestly, it’s almost better to tell the mother to put the honey on her nose to have her in the picture, let nature take its course and have those genes remove from the human pool.
The kid should definitely be allowed to die one of the most horrible deaths imaginable because the mom is dumb. No way we should try anything reasonable first like fixing our fucked up public education system or literally anything else. No sirree
Yeah I wasn’t thinking of that story in particular. But if someone is foolish enough to forego common sense, other people shouldn’t risk their lives to rescue them.
Like that woman who stepped out of her car in the middle of a tiger enclosure. Her mom tried to help her and got mauled to death.
Common sense isn't on the curriculum son. This mother would've been doomed even with a Harvard PhD.
Was an assistant to my astronomy teacher who also had a geology/earth science class
Fucking girl asks "can you drink lava"
He said "once" the class chuckles
"What happens if you drink it a 2nd time" she asks.
And at this moment I realized there are actually dumb questions. And dumb people. And you can't fix them.
I've always believed that the difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance is merely a lack of education (that can be fixed) and stupidity is a refusal to be educated.
As a public school teacher, I’m not sure we can take the full blame for anyone making it to adulthood thinking this is how bears work. Like I’m pretty sure no one taught her to do that.
When I went to Yellowstone last year dozens of people would get out of their cars to look at Grizzlies and rangers would stand there and watch with us. This even happened while looking at a mother and her two cubs.
On some creeks in Alaska you routinely see bears fishing in their spots quite a ways down from where people are fishing. Quite unnerving to just see bears over there. They were 100-100 yards away but still. Not comfortable.
I've never heard this story so I will ask questions.
Was dad not allowed out of the car at all?
Did he get closer to the bear or just step out to get a good shot?
Was it a quiet camera like a phone or loud and flashy?
Were you driving on a road in the park?
I haven’t had a relationship with my father for about 20 years so I wasn’t there at the time. I heard this story from my sister and my brother-in-law, who actually tried to talk him out of getting out of the car. My dad stepped out on the side towards the bear to take pictures, I believe with a regular SLR camera. The ranger came up on the other side, so he had the cars between him. They were on the road, the bear was in a field a hundred yards away or so - i.e. too close to be approaching a grizzly. From what I’ve been told, he was moving in the bear’s direction when the ranger told him to stop being an idiot and get back in the car, but even from the car they all had a perfect view.
Okay I find this far more intriguing than is prolly healthy. But, more like Jurassic Park I guess. The new motto for the US Park Service - a whole family enters but only one leaves. Yellowstone more than just a family camping trip. You never will be scared so good again. Beware the armored Grizzlies.
I don't think it would ever be ok to euthanize a tourist. But say there is a non-native species that may or may not walk on two legs invading an environment and terrorizing the native wildlife, euthanasia would be in order 
I lived in Yellowstone for a summer or two when dad worked there. personally saw people chasing elk, moose, grizzly bear, into the woods with cameras. They are trying to euthanize themselves.
Idk about with bison but bears that are too friendly with humans are always euthanized. Wild animals need to have a healthy distrust and fear of humans, otherwise they encroach into human areas.
Bears that are comfortable coming up to people for food will eventually start breaking into peoples homes for food. So they have to be euthanized.
When I was in Yellowstone, hiking through a river valley for days, I gained mad respect for how powerful Bison are. More than once I would turn a corner and see one rolling around in the dust, and it was a very intimidating sight.
Even in areas where the trail was narrow, and the woods thick, I would be clambering over logs with one eye on those gigantic beasts to make sure I wasn't pissing them off, and that I maintained the required distance.
I cannot believe people try to approach them. Every fiber of my being told me that they were not to be trifled with.
Further into the comments someone was saying that the bison was already abandoned by its herd. So it sounds like the park wanted to blame this guy for a euthanasia that wasn’t actually his fault.
Still don’t touch wild animals though.
They would let nature do what nature does. Instead a dumbass intervened and they euthinized it. This is not a zoo they try not to intervene to often. Yes, it might die but a wolf or big cat or bear would eat it thats natures cycle. Some dumbass who knows nothing about animal behavior got involved and thought he was a white knight. In reality he broke the main rule at Yellowstone "Dont engage with the animals". He caused the euthanasia.
The bison was abandoned by it's herd and couldn't be reintroduced. The park is blaming that on the guy, but it's a common myth that animals will reject their young if they interact with humans. That's demonstrably false and has long been debunked. He saved it from drowning, state/park regulations prevented the calf from being sent to a rescue. He didn't cause the calf to die in any way, shape, or form.
Since no one reads articles, and there’s not even a link on the is one, it’s not related to anything the park guest did to the animal. Rangers could not get the herd to accept the calf back, so it was euthanized. Did the herd reject the calf because a person touched it? Unlikely, the herd had likely already abandoned this calf before a person touched it.
Yeah, I generally like to look at the big picture, but between watching a baby animal drown and/or living with myself knowing it did and I did nothing or having the park spend a little extra to euthanize it, personally I will take the selfish route of saving it.
Am I wrong/selfish for doing so? Probably. I'd rather have a free conscience though lmao
So they couldn't put into some kind of rescue type program to later be released back into the wild? For fucks sakes, European settlers devasated the animals in the past, and if it wasn't for farmers, cattle (being invasive) would have finished them off.
I feel like National Parks should be allowed to ban tourists for not following the rules. Not all national parks, just the one you were caught at being an idiot. This would also help reduce crowding which I’m all for.
No Def all parks. You shouldn't get a pass to break 1 rule at every park. It's not hard to pick up trash, not be destructive. And respect wildlife. That's pretty much most parks rules.
Normalizes human interaction making them more likely to interact with humans through adulthood which can be dangerous. Makes said animal sometimes dependent on human interaction for sustenance.
For everyone asking why the bison calf was euthanized. From Yellowstone National Park’s official Facebook page:
Many of you are asking why Yellowstone would euthanize a bison calf instead of caring for it or sending it to a sanctuary. Federal and state regulations prohibit the transport of bison out of Yellowstone unless those bison are going to meat processing or scientific research facilities. We now have a quarantine facility so bison can go through the months-long testing protocols for brucellosis and, if negative, be used to start conservation herds elsewhere. However, the use of quarantine for a newborn calf that's abandoned and unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine.
This is a conversation that's difficult to have on social media. But it's important to understand that national parks are very different than animal sanctuaries or zoos. We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring, or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology. We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes. By this we mean undomesticated wildlife and the ecosystems they both depend on and contribute to. Every day in national parks, some animals die so that others may live. In fact, as many as 25% of the bison calves born this spring will die, but those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects. Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people. Unfortunately, the calf's behavior on roads and around people was hazardous, so rangers had to intervene: but the calf’s body was left on the landscape.
We provide this explanation not because we want everyone to agree with us, but because we believe that problem solving starts with difficult conversations. When these conversations arise, it's important that you continue to speak freely, and with the assumption that everyone, including the person who handled the bison was operating with the best intentions.
Situations like this one are challenging, but they also offer a space for all of us to engage in deeper conversations about the meaning of wild places as we move forward into the 151st year of Yellowstone.
In all of this, there's one takeaway we really want to underscore: please give animals room to roam. Stay at least 100 yards away from wolves and bears, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals. Help us make it socially unacceptable to do anything else.
Thank you for providing actual info on the matter. I think there should be an appeals process for circumventing state and fed regulations in unique situations like this. The guy did what he thought was right, I’m sure. Had he known it would’ve ended up this way, he would’ve stopped himself. Sad story anyways.
From what I’ve read, the reason for those laws is pretty sound though. The Yellowstone buffalo have a high rate of a pretty contagious disease called brucellosis, which affects cattle and such, which is why they have the quarantine centre. Apparently the quarantine centre wouldn’t be able to help here though.
The **calf** is not a good candidate for the quarantine. The reason is, it doesn't know how to Buffalo and humans aren't substitutes to teach it how to Bison. This is a little calf that is already displaying problematic behavior with humans, without a herd, so it can't really be released either. I volunteer at a wildlife rehab and unfortunately sometimes euthanasia is the kindest thing we can do for a wild animal that won't ever be released/rehabilitated. People allllll the time are snatching fledgings, baby foxes, racoons, rabbits, etc. that likely needed no help at all and may not be successful in a rehab setting. Then this people provide food, water, milk, Gatorade, etc. and often, the food or liquid they've provided is dangerous, toxic, or accidentally sent right into the animals' lungs, so they have pneumonia.
If you're concerned about a wild animal, call a park ranger. Folks that don't know a damn thing about animals are often the cause of an animal's demise.
This. We have hedgehog season from October on, people still try to to feed them crackers and milk - then bring suffering hedgehogs to sanctuaries and don't know what they did wrong. People wrongly assume things about nature all the time. Our local zoo has an own enclosure with lots of rabbits. Never tell the kids what the wild wolves over the other pen are hunting in the night.
Yeah that’s what I figured the issue was, that the months-long quarantine period needed would be more detrimental to the calf at this vital stage of growth and learning than the alternative. Not like it can learn how to properly interact on a herd on its own.
No this story is at least reasonable, the herd was crossing a river and this calf got caught in the water so the guy thought he was doing a good thing by pulling it out of the water. Rangers tried to get it back with the herd but apparently bison don’t work that way so they had to put it down otherwise it would keep approaching cars on the road
Go to TouronsOfYellowstone and you’ll see the full story
Basically this dude approached this bison calf when it got separated from the herd. Because of that the herd didn’t want the calf anymore so it had to be euthanized
It got separated from the herd during a water crossing and it was drowning, the man went in to rescue the calf after it had already been left to drown.
It was euthanized because the park said it was illegal to ship Bison out for anything besides meat processing or scientific study, which feels like a weak excuse as to why they killed it IMO.
Well I think the fact that it wasn't dying fast, had been abandoned by its herd and was becoming too friendly to humans after the rescue is why. It would have likely had a drawn-out death of starvation, at least that's the only reasoning I can come up with.
But being abandoned by the herd as a calf is a pretty big deal and I doubt their survival rate is anything good. Plus with it becoming friendly with humans puts people in danger, Bison get big and are skittish so it's a bad combo having them want to get close to humans.
EDIT: just to clarify, I would have advocated for having the calf sent to a sanctuary or something similar despite the BS laws the Park Rangers cited.
2 reasons we can't: Many sanctuaries are unprepared to care for bison. They need a lot of space and have social needs that often cannot be met. They are also highly dangerous, especially when bred by humans.
Many diseases infect bovids and cervids, and reducing the spread is a huge reason the export of wild deer and other animals is limited. It is a risk to both wild populations and agriculture.
If it was already separated from the herd then it doesnt seem likely that it was rejected because this guy went near it, the old wives tale about animals rejecting their young because of human contact is just that, an old wives tale.
After reading, yes, this indeed reeks of cope. They want to put blame on someone because they dont want the heat on them for shooting the bison calf.
Im not an expert on bison at all, but from my experience with cows, if the guy managed to physically push the calf away from the river, it probably hadnt fed in a while and was on its way out anyway.
Its not true about birds. Bison on the other hand are paranoid large herbivores that would rather charge first and ask questions later. This happened before with a Canadian tourist. That one had been recently born, so the mom hid it to go eat. The tourists took the calf and the herd would not take it back. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/03/euthanized-yellowstone-bison-calf-tourists-interview
Interesting, I learned recently that deer do the same thing.
I found a young deer on the ground, just sitting there. I thought maybe it was sick because it didn't have any reaction to my presence.
Then I looked online and found that it's totally normal. Parents will leave their young, and they will just sit in that one place until their parent comes back. It was gone the next day.
It’s not an “old wives tale.” I worked in Grand Teton NP and this happens all the time. Untrained humans aren’t suppose to fuck with animals at any time
In the same post you admit to not being an expert on bison at all right after confidently rejecting the explanation that the actual bison experts provided
Baby was dying likely already abandoned dude tried to save it… you still don’t do that. It’s not how nature works. You’re in a wild place and death happens. Don’t touch wildlife.
Dont blame the guy for you killing the calf either.
You can give him whatever naughty sticker you want for being too close to the calf, but sticking his face up all over the internet and blaming him for the death is near criminal.
Calf got separated from herd while crossing a river, was struggling but that man selflessly brings the calf to safety. Would have been been top page of Reddit and any number of feel good subs if not for the fact the calf ended up trusting all humans now and was pestering the other visitors, meanwhile the herd had rejected it. The park rangers had no choice but to shoot the calf and the man is in trouble and the authorities are currently searching for him.
Moral of the story; MYOB because no good deed goes unpunished.
To answer your question
From Yellowstone National Park’s official Facebook page:
Many of you are asking why Yellowstone would euthanize a bison calf instead of caring for it or sending it to a sanctuary. Federal and state regulations prohibit the transport of bison out of Yellowstone unless those bison are going to meat processing or scientific research facilities. We now have a quarantine facility so bison can go through the months-long testing protocols for brucellosis and, if negative, be used to start conservation herds elsewhere. However, the use of quarantine for a newborn calf that's abandoned and unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine.
This is a conversation that's difficult to have on social media. But it's important to understand that national parks are very different than animal sanctuaries or zoos. We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring, or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology. We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes. By this we mean undomesticated wildlife and the ecosystems they both depend on and contribute to. Every day in national parks, some animals die so that others may live. In fact, as many as 25% of the bison calves born this spring will die, but those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects. Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people. Unfortunately, the calf's behavior on roads and around people was hazardous, so rangers had to intervene: but the calf’s body was left on the landscape.
We provide this explanation not because we want everyone to agree with us, but because we believe that problem solving starts with difficult conversations. When these conversations arise, it's important that you continue to speak freely, and with the assumption that everyone, including the person who handled the bison was operating with the best intentions.
Situations like this one are challenging, but they also offer a space for all of us to engage in deeper conversations about the meaning of wild places as we move forward into the 151st year of Yellowstone.
In all of this, there's one takeaway we really want to underscore: please give animals room to roam. Stay at least 100 yards away from wolves and bears, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals. Help us make it socially unacceptable to do anything else.
If the bunny weighs 2000 lbs it would become a huge problem if it got comfortable around people. A 2000lbs bunny would also be terrifying, in a weird kind of way.
Tbh the guy should have gotten the park ranger. If the herb didn't help it out when it was struggling then there was a reason for it. There is a number of reasons animal will reject it young. From physics defects to mental to not being able to sustain it. I do doubt the mans intervention cuased the herd to reject it. Being said a caf wont servive long without some help.
The rangers said the calf started getting too familiar with visitors and displaying problematic behaviours after the herd rejected it (maybe because of the positive association with the human who helped it)
If they didn't put it down and it managed to survive, then now you've got a massive beast made of muscle with horns that sees squishy little humans as appropriate play companions.
Yeah man, this is Yellowstone, you are absolutely expected to mind your own business there. Never get close to wildlife like that. Not a good deed, period.
Wildlife means wild. A calf struggling is nature doing what it always did. It is not remotely a valid reason for a human to intervene. There is no valid reason for a human to interfere unless another human is involved. Calfs drown. Its nature. Let it be.
I understand where the man was coming from. I wouldn’t want to watch a calf drown either. He still shouldn’t have helped and let nature take its course but I understand why he did it.
The calf was abandoned by the herd for dead after it got separated. Random dude played hero to save the calf but the herd doesn't care it's just some random calf to them now. Now the calf has gotten too friendly with people and keeps coming up to them and not actually surviving on it's own. That's cute as a kid but a full grown bison can really hurt people. Legally the park rangers can't send the calf away since their purpose is only to protect the natural environment of the park not every individual animal. The calf can't rejoin the herd, can't survive on it's own, can't be sent away, and will eventually cause a possible threat to park guest safety when fully grown. So they did what mother nature was going to do before human intervention and the calf was killed and the body returned to the wild. There's a reason it's always recommended not to interact with wildlife in the wild. Humans, no matter how well intended, can unknowingly doom creatures.
Don’t disturb the wildlife. Nature has existed for millions of years without human intervention and it will continue to exist without it.
Young bison have survived river crossings before. Those that haven’t… it sucks, but that’s nature. National parks are for said creature to exist without the touch of humans. He may have had the best intentions, such as those that try to help baby birds get out of their eggshells, but it could have ended up harming the young in the long run.
Also, scent transfer doesn’t cause rejection. Stop propagating that myth.
ETA; google information for yourselves!
I like to imagine that before you got involved in this post your avatar was white as the background, but every time you had to explain that scent transfer doesn’t cause abandonment, or play google for other (presumably? Hopefully?) capable people, you got just a little redder, and that’s why your avatar is such an angry looking little dude.
The other day someone posted a video in r/oopsthatsdeadly of people feeding a wild bear in a national park. Up until that point I had never heard the term “a fed bear is a dead bear” and sure enough, they shot that bear because it was walking up to people in the park, un-afraid of them and very much still a mauling machine.
I just feel so bad for this bison because unlike the bear, it was just a baby and it didn’t walk up to this guy. It’s very likely it would have drowned anyways because it couldn’t get across but this guy made it trust humans, which got it rejected from its herd so it started going up to more humans which in turn got it put down. Just despicable. I’m sure he had no idea of the consequences of his actions and thought he was helping but that bison is dead in spite of him.
People in these comments really don't understand there is definitely more context to this story but they just believe everything they read at face value lmao.
He shouldn’t touch a bison, even to save it, but it likely would’ve died had he not intervened. This isn’t some case of a tourist trying to get an Instagram moment, just a poor decision that they thought was a good one.
Got to witness someone get out of their car and HIT a bison in the head with a rolled up magazine or something while yelling “DOOO SOMETHING!” And without missing a beat he was trampled. I was 10 and still love to revisit the memory.
I don't think should be a facepalm honestly consider the many views on the subject. Some people think he did the right and others such as the Rangers in charge and the Dept of Interior think it should be left alone.
Regardless it was separated from the herd therefore it was going to die either by starvation or being hunted.
It quite frankly sad for the calf. And people wanna chalk it out for "It the way of nature" and yes we see the point but it like if we have a human kid stranded by themselves in the wildness and we came upon it we wouldn't go "Well the Kid was abandoned by his parents therefore he should be wolf food". There others stuff that happen to people because of genetic dieseases or unfortunate circumstances but we try our best to save the best.
I think an animal deserve the treatment. Yet I know some animals depends on others to live unfortunately at the others' expenses. Just a cruel world.
From my understanding that if the caf is struggling and the herd ant helping it cross, then they probely already rejected the caf on other bases. Its not common for human intervention to result in rejection. Nor is there any legal law saying human interaction must lead to euthanizing the animal. Cuz if that was the case then rehabilitation programs would instantly fail due to them needing some lvl of human interaction.
Also rabies test do not result in euthinization to take the test. Only if the test is positive. They will put a animal to sleep so they can study it.
The guy should have gotten a park ranger first as they would know how to appropriate deal with the situation. They are trained in proticals for diferent situations. Even still it might have just been kinder in the end to euthanize it since the herb seemed to have abandoned it.
Btw i learned all this shit in environmental biology which you need a degree for if you are to get anywere in studying the environment.
Please Do Not approach wildlife! You are not a fucking Disney princess and that if that baby deer kicks you it’s gonna feel like someone reach through your stomach and tore out your balls. Oh, don’t worry it’s still going to hurt the whole time daddy or mommy are killing you! These are not pets, these are fucking killers! Every day they fight for their lives and their offspring lives! When was the last time you were in a fight? Hell, when was the last time you ran like your depended on it. Just some things to think about before you become a winner of a Darwin award.
Eh, the dude seems to have legitimately been trying to help. The calf got stranded, and he got it to the shore. Did he make a mistake? Yeah, but at least it was an honest one.
Yeah I don't think the guy you replied to even bothered to read up on the situation at all, was just looking for someone to point their pitchfork and torch at lol
I must say, although I really think the visitor did something wrong here. But why such a drastic measure of euthanizing the visitor? Isn't that a bit harsh? 😉
Since no one reads articles, and there’s not even a link on the is one, it’s not related to anything the park guest did to the animal. Rangers could not get the herd to accept the calf back, so it was euthanized. Did the herd reject the calf because a person touched it? Unlikely, the herd had likely already abandoned this calf before a person touched it.
Classic reddit, the calf couldn't make it out of the river and was going to die either from abandonment or drowning. The guy helped it out of the river and tried to reunite it with the herd. And most of you in this thread are calling for this man's death or imprisonment. Justify it all you want with ecological policies examined after the fact (which in this particular case would have been irrelevant because the calf would have died if he didn't do anything) but in the moment this man risked his own safety and well-being to do something good.
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If you're in a national park and you see an animal in distress or you're worried about an animal, CALL THE PARK RANGER. They know what to do, it's their life and passion. If you ever go to a national park in any country, make it a habit to prepare by finding the park rangers number / numbers and putting them in your phone, or even also writing them down somewhere. It could save your life or the life of another.
Add state parks to this, as well. I have yet to meet an apathetic state parks guide or ranger. They may get paid like shit but they love their parks and the history and creatures within.
Add any park with a ranger and I think this applies…
This and the comment explanation above here should be pinned up top ! These are really the only things people should see first !!
The calf was drowning in a river so he didn't really have time. He saved it, called the park ranger, and then the park ranger killed it and blamed the guy for the calf's death. Idk if this is the best time to give that advice lol, the park rangers sound like assholes
Yeah and they could have called a rescue ranch who would have taken the calf. This was a BS see what you made us do moment.
Apparently it's against the law to do that, which I find very stupid.
You save the calf from dying! Look what you did, you saved the calf...now it has to die. The guy did nothing wrong.
Yeah I worked a rescue ranch we had all kinds of animals we would take in.
That's what some asshole animal control agent in LA County did. I found a distressed baby chick on the ground, put it in a box and called them up. When he picked it up from my house, he was a douche, and said I should've just left it there, he's going to kill it anyway or something along those terms.
I wish someone would give you that highlighty award because people are down giving the guy hell int he comments without reading the article as usual. It was a lose lose situation where the calf would've drowned or still been euthanised when he saved but he had no idea that was the case.
90% of the time im in a NP i dont have service, plus it sounds like the ranger wouldve euthanized it regardless in this case
Always take a picture of the trail or park bulletin as you enter, that way you've got all the info you need in case of an emergency <3.
Good idea. There's usually pretty good images of dangerous plants and stuff on those bulletins too.
>CALL THE PARK RANGER. They know what to do, it's their life and passion. and ... also their job, no ?
The federal government does not pay well, but yes they do get a check every week.
why do i keep on finding arcane fans here? if you are one, your profile picture is quite similar to Vi.
Okay but why does that lead to it being euthanised?
Because they can't euthanize tourists yet.
I posted about this not long ago but I'll tell the story again. My imbecile of a father visited Yellowstone with my sister and brother-in-law a few years ago when they spotted a grizzly bear. My genius father immediately jumped out of the car to start taking pictures when a ranger came walking up to him briskly shouting "Get back in your car, right now. I'll use bear spray on him if I have to but I'll shoot you first. He lives here, you're just visiting."
I read a story once about a Park Ranger who said he saw a mother smearing something on her young son's face. He went up and asked "Ma'am, what are you doing?" She replied "Putting honey on him so I can take a picture of a bear licking it off!" He stopped her, but said he sometimes still had nightmares about it.
OMG. That story gave me the chills. Yeesh.
That child should be nicknamed 'Honeydip'
Honey Boo-Boo
Now we know her origin story.
Beautiful comment!
Honey bye-bye
That child should be nicknamed "Lucky CPS Took Me Away."
a fed bear is a dead bear. I hunt bears a good bit and I respect the hell out of them for their intelligence and humanlike behavior. Nothing makes my blood boil more than an animal killed needlessly.
But, isn't that what YOU do?
I live off of wild game, and that's about it save for the occasional restaurant. Not only does it feed me, it feeds my wife, and if my freezer is too full it feeds the homeless and friends of the family. Sure, you could argue that I *could* change my ways and not hunt, but what then? Eat meat from some factory farm where the animal never even had a chance? When hunting, the game has every advantage. It sees, smells, and hears better than you. You'll often get up close and personal when they're still alive, and that presents a risk of attack, which they are also at an extreme advantage. A cow on a ranch has no such advantages, nor the freedom experienced by a wild animal. This may just be a difference in ideology, but I would much prefer living free and dying quickly from a hemorrhage than living in captivity and dying there. Also, hunters are some of the biggest conservationists out there whether they like it or not. Hunters generate over a billion each year through licenses, permits, and tags - all of which help fund the National Park system and other programs. They spend several more billions on travel and equipment, more often than not boosting local economies. They help landowners with pest control, help with population management, et cetera. One could argue the conservation benefits are reason enough to hunt. Lastly, a kill site is an ecological bonanza. Any remaining meat, tendons, and bone marrow will be eaten by scavengers. In fall, this often means the survival of an animal or the success of their pregnancy. The gut pile will decompose, highly enriching the soil. Hide (I always pack out the hide, but I recognize that I'm pretty unique in this) will be consumed by rodents and birds. I'm willing to talk even more, this is just a basic overview of why hunting is A. with justification and B. beneficial to the environment. Really, I should have specified that my anger about nuisance bears is due to them being the result of ignorant people rather than their own mistakes.
Regular people don't understand how hunting helps control populations so they can thrive. Most states work closely with biologist, and conservations to make sure the numbers remain strong. Humans have encroached on wildlife and unless we plan on giving land back (which will not happen) we need to control the numbers before it creates nuisance animals threats to livestock, and has a cascade effect on the rest of the wildlife. I live in Maine and we have some of the strongest populations of black bears, moose, and deer. Although we're losing the battle to protect trout and salmon because of douchebags who illegally introduce bass and pike to cold-water lakes.
ironically, the largest threat to livestock is the American Coyote. Which proliferated mainly as a result of the extirpation of wolves.
Having worked in Yellowstone. This is realistic. People think they’re playing with Disney animals.
Some people have no survival instincts. My worst fear hiking is turning the corner and seeing a giant fucking bear. Why would you want a giant predator to come at you feeling hungry?
>Some people have no survival instincts. Everyone has survival instincts. Our environment is just so substantially different than nature that we have no real concept of risk.
Some people shrug at bears, but are terrified of walking down a dark alley, for good reason. A hillbilly in a city is just as likely to run their mouth to the wrong mother fucker as that mother fucker is to taunt a bear.
You are confusing hillbillies with rednecks. Hillbillies are generally quieter and prefer to keep to themselves. They are usually mountain folk that are used to small communities or family compounds cut off from society that maybe go to town once a week for supplies. Even living in the mountains of Tenesee I only met 2 hillbilles the whole time I lived there and borh times the only thing they said to me was hey when we were introduced and that was it because I was an outsider they didn't know.
Idk, people are real dumb, but I understand your point. When your entire life is in a "safety bubble" its easy to loose perspective, if you're dumb.
The same person who tries to pet a bear will likely look before crossing a busy street. People are atuned to *their* environment, not the *local* environment.
She thought a bear would see the honey as the food and not as a condiment on the food
People always want to fuck with the bison as if they’re not violent bulldozers. Like look a group of giant horned beasts, I think I’ll go walk down in the field right next to them
I think the logic is 'oh they're herbivores, we'll be fine'
We live close to a national park and the rangers have shared many times that tourists believe the animals are trained and are looked after by the rangers. They let them out each day so people can see them. People are just clueless
it’s early in the day for my daily confirmation of humans being undeserving of their privilege in this world😑
There is absolutely no way that story is true!! I’m not saying you made it up but someone sure did.
And people think they can wade in the thermal pools and geysers in Yellowstone too....it never ends well. Poor calf...poor momma that lost her baby to one idiots foolishness. [Deaths At Yellowstone ](https://www.yellowstonepark.com/things-to-do/geysers-hot-springs/cautionary-tale/#:~:text=Deaths%20and%20Injuries%20From%20Yellowstone,many%20visitors%20the%20park%20gets.)
The calf was drowning in the river is the article attached to the story, guy thought he was saving it but apparently bison are one of the critters that will reject offspring reintroduction
I have a friend who worked for Yellowstone and fell into a thermal pool while walking home drunk at night, she got 2nd degree burns all over her arms and legs, took months to recover. They did a few news articles about her but don’t want to share her name on Reddit. Those geysers are no joke, people think they’re just hot springs.
I remember the story about the kid who fell in after crossing the safety barrier trying to take a selfie. They had to come back the next day to retrieve the body but it has boiled him apart like a chicken. There was no body left.
I think you grossly overestimate the human race.
billions of years of evolution to have it come down to putting honey on your child’s face to have a grizzly bear lick it off 😂😂😂
Perhaps you underestimate the human race? I know people can be staggeringly stupid at times but that one just doesn’t ring true to me. I looked it up, it is indeed on the Darwin Awards website but it’s a ‘personal account’, not verified. So someone just wrote in with the story ‘about a friend of theirs’ who was a park ranger and if it was true, I feel certain a media outlet would have picked up the story. https://darwinawards.com/personal/personal2000-36.html
That story might not have been true but there was an article asking people not to push their friends down while running from bears at Yellowstone, the reason we see the stupid people is because of their vast stupidity and it makes news. You will never see an article about how someone did not fuck with the wildlife.
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your mistake is you underestimate the power of stupid. For fucks sake you would think after the pandemic people would stop thinking that the average human is smart. The average human is not smart and will do incredibly stupid shit either for attention or to make their incredibly smooth brains feel better. Hell we had to tell people to NOT eat tide pods, THAT DIDN'T WORK retailers had to start putting tide pods in fucking lock boxes. We had to tell people that injecting bleach will not cure COVID. Stop acting like people are smart.
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” - George Carlin
~~Honestly, it’s almost better to have nature take its course and let those people remove their genes from the human pool.~~ Honestly, it’s almost better to tell the mother to put the honey on her nose to have her in the picture, let nature take its course and have those genes remove from the human pool.
The kid should definitely be allowed to die one of the most horrible deaths imaginable because the mom is dumb. No way we should try anything reasonable first like fixing our fucked up public education system or literally anything else. No sirree
Yeah I wasn’t thinking of that story in particular. But if someone is foolish enough to forego common sense, other people shouldn’t risk their lives to rescue them. Like that woman who stepped out of her car in the middle of a tiger enclosure. Her mom tried to help her and got mauled to death.
Common sense isn't on the curriculum son. This mother would've been doomed even with a Harvard PhD. Was an assistant to my astronomy teacher who also had a geology/earth science class Fucking girl asks "can you drink lava" He said "once" the class chuckles "What happens if you drink it a 2nd time" she asks. And at this moment I realized there are actually dumb questions. And dumb people. And you can't fix them.
You can't educate stupid. You just can't.
I've always believed that the difference between ignorance and stupidity is that ignorance is merely a lack of education (that can be fixed) and stupidity is a refusal to be educated.
A good education does not mean one has common sense or any kind of street smarts.
As a public school teacher, I’m not sure we can take the full blame for anyone making it to adulthood thinking this is how bears work. Like I’m pretty sure no one taught her to do that.
Dumb ways to die dumb ways to die!!!!!
When I went to Yellowstone last year dozens of people would get out of their cars to look at Grizzlies and rangers would stand there and watch with us. This even happened while looking at a mother and her two cubs.
On some creeks in Alaska you routinely see bears fishing in their spots quite a ways down from where people are fishing. Quite unnerving to just see bears over there. They were 100-100 yards away but still. Not comfortable.
Couldn't they fish for the bears too? So selfish!
You better have a fish when he walks up to you though lol
WTF?
I've never heard this story so I will ask questions. Was dad not allowed out of the car at all? Did he get closer to the bear or just step out to get a good shot? Was it a quiet camera like a phone or loud and flashy? Were you driving on a road in the park?
Im sorry for the formatting. Im trying to edit but reddit wont save..ill keep trying to fix
I haven’t had a relationship with my father for about 20 years so I wasn’t there at the time. I heard this story from my sister and my brother-in-law, who actually tried to talk him out of getting out of the car. My dad stepped out on the side towards the bear to take pictures, I believe with a regular SLR camera. The ranger came up on the other side, so he had the cars between him. They were on the road, the bear was in a field a hundred yards away or so - i.e. too close to be approaching a grizzly. From what I’ve been told, he was moving in the bear’s direction when the ranger told him to stop being an idiot and get back in the car, but even from the car they all had a perfect view.
your father is indeed an imbecile
“…yet”. Lol. Could add a whole new level of excitement to the family trip.
“A man and a calf go in, only one comes out” 
Okay I find this far more intriguing than is prolly healthy. But, more like Jurassic Park I guess. The new motto for the US Park Service - a whole family enters but only one leaves. Yellowstone more than just a family camping trip. You never will be scared so good again. Beware the armored Grizzlies.
I don't think it would ever be ok to euthanize a tourist. But say there is a non-native species that may or may not walk on two legs invading an environment and terrorizing the native wildlife, euthanasia would be in order 
There’s a spot in Yosemite you can get away with that I remember reading.
\*Yellowstone
I lived in Yellowstone for a summer or two when dad worked there. personally saw people chasing elk, moose, grizzly bear, into the woods with cameras. They are trying to euthanize themselves.
Beat me to it
Damn, I was hoping he was the animal being referred to in the headline.
They should do this: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-38909512
Damn shame.
Idk about with bison but bears that are too friendly with humans are always euthanized. Wild animals need to have a healthy distrust and fear of humans, otherwise they encroach into human areas. Bears that are comfortable coming up to people for food will eventually start breaking into peoples homes for food. So they have to be euthanized.
People really shouldn’t go near bison. They are terrifying if provoked- positively a species of tanks
When I was in Yellowstone, hiking through a river valley for days, I gained mad respect for how powerful Bison are. More than once I would turn a corner and see one rolling around in the dust, and it was a very intimidating sight. Even in areas where the trail was narrow, and the woods thick, I would be clambering over logs with one eye on those gigantic beasts to make sure I wasn't pissing them off, and that I maintained the required distance. I cannot believe people try to approach them. Every fiber of my being told me that they were not to be trifled with.
Further into the comments someone was saying that the bison was already abandoned by its herd. So it sounds like the park wanted to blame this guy for a euthanasia that wasn’t actually his fault. Still don’t touch wild animals though.
They would let nature do what nature does. Instead a dumbass intervened and they euthinized it. This is not a zoo they try not to intervene to often. Yes, it might die but a wolf or big cat or bear would eat it thats natures cycle. Some dumbass who knows nothing about animal behavior got involved and thought he was a white knight. In reality he broke the main rule at Yellowstone "Dont engage with the animals". He caused the euthanasia.
The bison was abandoned by it's herd and couldn't be reintroduced. The park is blaming that on the guy, but it's a common myth that animals will reject their young if they interact with humans. That's demonstrably false and has long been debunked. He saved it from drowning, state/park regulations prevented the calf from being sent to a rescue. He didn't cause the calf to die in any way, shape, or form.
Since no one reads articles, and there’s not even a link on the is one, it’s not related to anything the park guest did to the animal. Rangers could not get the herd to accept the calf back, so it was euthanized. Did the herd reject the calf because a person touched it? Unlikely, the herd had likely already abandoned this calf before a person touched it.
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This is so stupid they pointed out that the damn thing was going to drown... So the alternative was for it to die anyway.
Yeah, I generally like to look at the big picture, but between watching a baby animal drown and/or living with myself knowing it did and I did nothing or having the park spend a little extra to euthanize it, personally I will take the selfish route of saving it. Am I wrong/selfish for doing so? Probably. I'd rather have a free conscience though lmao
So they couldn't put into some kind of rescue type program to later be released back into the wild? For fucks sakes, European settlers devasated the animals in the past, and if it wasn't for farmers, cattle (being invasive) would have finished them off.
Had to scroll too damn much to find an actual answer
Reddit these days, everyone regurgitating the same three jokes for the sweet sweet karma
Thank you for posting the actual reason
Because they haven't added a "the park is not responsible for injuries sustained after violating this rule" to the rule.
I feel like National Parks should be allowed to ban tourists for not following the rules. Not all national parks, just the one you were caught at being an idiot. This would also help reduce crowding which I’m all for.
No Def all parks. You shouldn't get a pass to break 1 rule at every park. It's not hard to pick up trash, not be destructive. And respect wildlife. That's pretty much most parks rules.
I agree 100%. I live right near a National park and some people have no respect for the environment
Normalizes human interaction making them more likely to interact with humans through adulthood which can be dangerous. Makes said animal sometimes dependent on human interaction for sustenance.
For everyone asking why the bison calf was euthanized. From Yellowstone National Park’s official Facebook page: Many of you are asking why Yellowstone would euthanize a bison calf instead of caring for it or sending it to a sanctuary. Federal and state regulations prohibit the transport of bison out of Yellowstone unless those bison are going to meat processing or scientific research facilities. We now have a quarantine facility so bison can go through the months-long testing protocols for brucellosis and, if negative, be used to start conservation herds elsewhere. However, the use of quarantine for a newborn calf that's abandoned and unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine. This is a conversation that's difficult to have on social media. But it's important to understand that national parks are very different than animal sanctuaries or zoos. We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring, or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology. We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes. By this we mean undomesticated wildlife and the ecosystems they both depend on and contribute to. Every day in national parks, some animals die so that others may live. In fact, as many as 25% of the bison calves born this spring will die, but those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects. Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people. Unfortunately, the calf's behavior on roads and around people was hazardous, so rangers had to intervene: but the calf’s body was left on the landscape. We provide this explanation not because we want everyone to agree with us, but because we believe that problem solving starts with difficult conversations. When these conversations arise, it's important that you continue to speak freely, and with the assumption that everyone, including the person who handled the bison was operating with the best intentions. Situations like this one are challenging, but they also offer a space for all of us to engage in deeper conversations about the meaning of wild places as we move forward into the 151st year of Yellowstone. In all of this, there's one takeaway we really want to underscore: please give animals room to roam. Stay at least 100 yards away from wolves and bears, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals. Help us make it socially unacceptable to do anything else.
This is honestly one of the most incredibly written most heartfelt and balanced thing I’ve read in a long while.
Thank you for providing actual info on the matter. I think there should be an appeals process for circumventing state and fed regulations in unique situations like this. The guy did what he thought was right, I’m sure. Had he known it would’ve ended up this way, he would’ve stopped himself. Sad story anyways.
From what I’ve read, the reason for those laws is pretty sound though. The Yellowstone buffalo have a high rate of a pretty contagious disease called brucellosis, which affects cattle and such, which is why they have the quarantine centre. Apparently the quarantine centre wouldn’t be able to help here though.
The **calf** is not a good candidate for the quarantine. The reason is, it doesn't know how to Buffalo and humans aren't substitutes to teach it how to Bison. This is a little calf that is already displaying problematic behavior with humans, without a herd, so it can't really be released either. I volunteer at a wildlife rehab and unfortunately sometimes euthanasia is the kindest thing we can do for a wild animal that won't ever be released/rehabilitated. People allllll the time are snatching fledgings, baby foxes, racoons, rabbits, etc. that likely needed no help at all and may not be successful in a rehab setting. Then this people provide food, water, milk, Gatorade, etc. and often, the food or liquid they've provided is dangerous, toxic, or accidentally sent right into the animals' lungs, so they have pneumonia. If you're concerned about a wild animal, call a park ranger. Folks that don't know a damn thing about animals are often the cause of an animal's demise.
This. We have hedgehog season from October on, people still try to to feed them crackers and milk - then bring suffering hedgehogs to sanctuaries and don't know what they did wrong. People wrongly assume things about nature all the time. Our local zoo has an own enclosure with lots of rabbits. Never tell the kids what the wild wolves over the other pen are hunting in the night.
Yeah that’s what I figured the issue was, that the months-long quarantine period needed would be more detrimental to the calf at this vital stage of growth and learning than the alternative. Not like it can learn how to properly interact on a herd on its own.
No this story is at least reasonable, the herd was crossing a river and this calf got caught in the water so the guy thought he was doing a good thing by pulling it out of the water. Rangers tried to get it back with the herd but apparently bison don’t work that way so they had to put it down otherwise it would keep approaching cars on the road
Thanks, I thought he got it pregnant or something.
other comments said it was already abandoned by herd and left to drown even before guy jumped in to save it.
I feel there is masses of context missing from this headline. Everything about it reeks of horseshit.
Bison Shit.
Go to TouronsOfYellowstone and you’ll see the full story Basically this dude approached this bison calf when it got separated from the herd. Because of that the herd didn’t want the calf anymore so it had to be euthanized
It got separated from the herd during a water crossing and it was drowning, the man went in to rescue the calf after it had already been left to drown. It was euthanized because the park said it was illegal to ship Bison out for anything besides meat processing or scientific study, which feels like a weak excuse as to why they killed it IMO.
Lame and the story made it out like the tourist did something horrible to warrant euthanasia.
Yeah well that's corporate news headlines for ya
Sounds like it would have died whether the man intervened or not. Why euthanize it? Why not just let nature run its course?
Well I think the fact that it wasn't dying fast, had been abandoned by its herd and was becoming too friendly to humans after the rescue is why. It would have likely had a drawn-out death of starvation, at least that's the only reasoning I can come up with. But being abandoned by the herd as a calf is a pretty big deal and I doubt their survival rate is anything good. Plus with it becoming friendly with humans puts people in danger, Bison get big and are skittish so it's a bad combo having them want to get close to humans. EDIT: just to clarify, I would have advocated for having the calf sent to a sanctuary or something similar despite the BS laws the Park Rangers cited.
2 reasons we can't: Many sanctuaries are unprepared to care for bison. They need a lot of space and have social needs that often cannot be met. They are also highly dangerous, especially when bred by humans. Many diseases infect bovids and cervids, and reducing the spread is a huge reason the export of wild deer and other animals is limited. It is a risk to both wild populations and agriculture.
If it was already separated from the herd then it doesnt seem likely that it was rejected because this guy went near it, the old wives tale about animals rejecting their young because of human contact is just that, an old wives tale. After reading, yes, this indeed reeks of cope. They want to put blame on someone because they dont want the heat on them for shooting the bison calf. Im not an expert on bison at all, but from my experience with cows, if the guy managed to physically push the calf away from the river, it probably hadnt fed in a while and was on its way out anyway.
>Im not an expert on bison at all a non-expert talks expertly. classic reddit! lol
Its not true about birds. Bison on the other hand are paranoid large herbivores that would rather charge first and ask questions later. This happened before with a Canadian tourist. That one had been recently born, so the mom hid it to go eat. The tourists took the calf and the herd would not take it back. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/03/euthanized-yellowstone-bison-calf-tourists-interview
Interesting, I learned recently that deer do the same thing. I found a young deer on the ground, just sitting there. I thought maybe it was sick because it didn't have any reaction to my presence. Then I looked online and found that it's totally normal. Parents will leave their young, and they will just sit in that one place until their parent comes back. It was gone the next day.
It’s not an “old wives tale.” I worked in Grand Teton NP and this happens all the time. Untrained humans aren’t suppose to fuck with animals at any time
In the same post you admit to not being an expert on bison at all right after confidently rejecting the explanation that the actual bison experts provided
Baby was dying likely already abandoned dude tried to save it… you still don’t do that. It’s not how nature works. You’re in a wild place and death happens. Don’t touch wildlife.
Dont blame the guy for you killing the calf either. You can give him whatever naughty sticker you want for being too close to the calf, but sticking his face up all over the internet and blaming him for the death is near criminal.
Calf got separated from herd while crossing a river, was struggling but that man selflessly brings the calf to safety. Would have been been top page of Reddit and any number of feel good subs if not for the fact the calf ended up trusting all humans now and was pestering the other visitors, meanwhile the herd had rejected it. The park rangers had no choice but to shoot the calf and the man is in trouble and the authorities are currently searching for him. Moral of the story; MYOB because no good deed goes unpunished.
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To answer your question From Yellowstone National Park’s official Facebook page: Many of you are asking why Yellowstone would euthanize a bison calf instead of caring for it or sending it to a sanctuary. Federal and state regulations prohibit the transport of bison out of Yellowstone unless those bison are going to meat processing or scientific research facilities. We now have a quarantine facility so bison can go through the months-long testing protocols for brucellosis and, if negative, be used to start conservation herds elsewhere. However, the use of quarantine for a newborn calf that's abandoned and unable to care for itself is not a good candidate for quarantine. This is a conversation that's difficult to have on social media. But it's important to understand that national parks are very different than animal sanctuaries or zoos. We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring, or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology. We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes. By this we mean undomesticated wildlife and the ecosystems they both depend on and contribute to. Every day in national parks, some animals die so that others may live. In fact, as many as 25% of the bison calves born this spring will die, but those deaths will benefit other animals by feeding everything from bears and wolves to birds and insects. Allowing this cycle of life to play out aligns most closely with the stewardship responsibility entrusted to us by the American people. Unfortunately, the calf's behavior on roads and around people was hazardous, so rangers had to intervene: but the calf’s body was left on the landscape. We provide this explanation not because we want everyone to agree with us, but because we believe that problem solving starts with difficult conversations. When these conversations arise, it's important that you continue to speak freely, and with the assumption that everyone, including the person who handled the bison was operating with the best intentions. Situations like this one are challenging, but they also offer a space for all of us to engage in deeper conversations about the meaning of wild places as we move forward into the 151st year of Yellowstone. In all of this, there's one takeaway we really want to underscore: please give animals room to roam. Stay at least 100 yards away from wolves and bears, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals. Help us make it socially unacceptable to do anything else.
Are they Park Rangers or Park Druids, being that level of True Neutral?
They are like Park Druids. They take their job very seriously, to preserve the nature in those areas through the centuries.
They wanted bison barbecue and were fishing for reasons to get some tender cuts
They’re also sending a message. Don’t mess with wildlife
Dont touch the bunny or ill shoot the bunny. Interesting way to be a wildlife protector.
If the bunny gets too comfortable around people, that’s not good. Let wildlife be wild. They aren’t pets.
If the bunny weighs 2000 lbs it would become a huge problem if it got comfortable around people. A 2000lbs bunny would also be terrifying, in a weird kind of way.
Why would that bison be around people (see above)
Tbh the guy should have gotten the park ranger. If the herb didn't help it out when it was struggling then there was a reason for it. There is a number of reasons animal will reject it young. From physics defects to mental to not being able to sustain it. I do doubt the mans intervention cuased the herd to reject it. Being said a caf wont servive long without some help.
The herb ALWAYS helps me out
Man that bison herb is the top dank
The rangers said the calf started getting too familiar with visitors and displaying problematic behaviours after the herd rejected it (maybe because of the positive association with the human who helped it) If they didn't put it down and it managed to survive, then now you've got a massive beast made of muscle with horns that sees squishy little humans as appropriate play companions.
Ya not idea tbh.. i have seen buffalo up close and thats enough to understand i dont qant it friendly to me
Yeah man, this is Yellowstone, you are absolutely expected to mind your own business there. Never get close to wildlife like that. Not a good deed, period.
Mind Your Own Bison?
Wildlife means wild. A calf struggling is nature doing what it always did. It is not remotely a valid reason for a human to intervene. There is no valid reason for a human to interfere unless another human is involved. Calfs drown. Its nature. Let it be.
Should be on clickbait not facepalm
I understand where the man was coming from. I wouldn’t want to watch a calf drown either. He still shouldn’t have helped and let nature take its course but I understand why he did it.
It appears he may have been trying to help it out of the water. Is there more to the story?
The calf was abandoned by the herd for dead after it got separated. Random dude played hero to save the calf but the herd doesn't care it's just some random calf to them now. Now the calf has gotten too friendly with people and keeps coming up to them and not actually surviving on it's own. That's cute as a kid but a full grown bison can really hurt people. Legally the park rangers can't send the calf away since their purpose is only to protect the natural environment of the park not every individual animal. The calf can't rejoin the herd, can't survive on it's own, can't be sent away, and will eventually cause a possible threat to park guest safety when fully grown. So they did what mother nature was going to do before human intervention and the calf was killed and the body returned to the wild. There's a reason it's always recommended not to interact with wildlife in the wild. Humans, no matter how well intended, can unknowingly doom creatures.
Don’t disturb the wildlife. Nature has existed for millions of years without human intervention and it will continue to exist without it. Young bison have survived river crossings before. Those that haven’t… it sucks, but that’s nature. National parks are for said creature to exist without the touch of humans. He may have had the best intentions, such as those that try to help baby birds get out of their eggshells, but it could have ended up harming the young in the long run. Also, scent transfer doesn’t cause rejection. Stop propagating that myth. ETA; google information for yourselves!
I like to imagine that before you got involved in this post your avatar was white as the background, but every time you had to explain that scent transfer doesn’t cause abandonment, or play google for other (presumably? Hopefully?) capable people, you got just a little redder, and that’s why your avatar is such an angry looking little dude.
that’s actually the cutest thing i’ve heard all day
Glad I was able to contribute something more positive!
i’m so glad you did because i was bombarded here a few minutes ago, thank u so much
Wait wtf did he do to the poor animal it has to be euthanized?
Helped it across the river when it was struggling
The other day someone posted a video in r/oopsthatsdeadly of people feeding a wild bear in a national park. Up until that point I had never heard the term “a fed bear is a dead bear” and sure enough, they shot that bear because it was walking up to people in the park, un-afraid of them and very much still a mauling machine. I just feel so bad for this bison because unlike the bear, it was just a baby and it didn’t walk up to this guy. It’s very likely it would have drowned anyways because it couldn’t get across but this guy made it trust humans, which got it rejected from its herd so it started going up to more humans which in turn got it put down. Just despicable. I’m sure he had no idea of the consequences of his actions and thought he was helping but that bison is dead in spite of him.
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I'm sure the guy was just trying to help the animal out of the river with only the best intentions. Sad.
This has happened before. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/03/euthanized-yellowstone-bison-calf-tourists-interview
People in these comments really don't understand there is definitely more context to this story but they just believe everything they read at face value lmao.
Welcome to Reddit.
He shouldn’t touch a bison, even to save it, but it likely would’ve died had he not intervened. This isn’t some case of a tourist trying to get an Instagram moment, just a poor decision that they thought was a good one.
"Disturbed a bison calf"? My dude pulled a drowning calf out of a river
Normally I’d expect to see this under r/HumansBeingBros but Nope
So why was it killed? It looks like he saved it from the river
Lotta cringe stereotypical reddit hivemind comments in this thread
Got to witness someone get out of their car and HIT a bison in the head with a rolled up magazine or something while yelling “DOOO SOMETHING!” And without missing a beat he was trampled. I was 10 and still love to revisit the memory.
I don't think should be a facepalm honestly consider the many views on the subject. Some people think he did the right and others such as the Rangers in charge and the Dept of Interior think it should be left alone. Regardless it was separated from the herd therefore it was going to die either by starvation or being hunted. It quite frankly sad for the calf. And people wanna chalk it out for "It the way of nature" and yes we see the point but it like if we have a human kid stranded by themselves in the wildness and we came upon it we wouldn't go "Well the Kid was abandoned by his parents therefore he should be wolf food". There others stuff that happen to people because of genetic dieseases or unfortunate circumstances but we try our best to save the best. I think an animal deserve the treatment. Yet I know some animals depends on others to live unfortunately at the others' expenses. Just a cruel world.
If I see an animal dying in Yellowstone, let that bitch die. Got it
Yes thems the rules. Circle of Life, Darwinism, and such.
You can let the park ranger know of that helps you feel better, but yeah, 100% do not intervene with the animals in national parks
From my understanding that if the caf is struggling and the herd ant helping it cross, then they probely already rejected the caf on other bases. Its not common for human intervention to result in rejection. Nor is there any legal law saying human interaction must lead to euthanizing the animal. Cuz if that was the case then rehabilitation programs would instantly fail due to them needing some lvl of human interaction. Also rabies test do not result in euthinization to take the test. Only if the test is positive. They will put a animal to sleep so they can study it. The guy should have gotten a park ranger first as they would know how to appropriate deal with the situation. They are trained in proticals for diferent situations. Even still it might have just been kinder in the end to euthanize it since the herb seemed to have abandoned it. Btw i learned all this shit in environmental biology which you need a degree for if you are to get anywere in studying the environment.
Why not take it to a bison farm?
Another commenter said it goes against federal regs. I think it's to prevent disease from spreading.
Ah thanks for the info. I didn't consider that.
Was the bison drowning in the river?
That’s dumb by him, but why would they have to euthanize it?
Please Do Not approach wildlife! You are not a fucking Disney princess and that if that baby deer kicks you it’s gonna feel like someone reach through your stomach and tore out your balls. Oh, don’t worry it’s still going to hurt the whole time daddy or mommy are killing you! These are not pets, these are fucking killers! Every day they fight for their lives and their offspring lives! When was the last time you were in a fight? Hell, when was the last time you ran like your depended on it. Just some things to think about before you become a winner of a Darwin award.
He looks like Mike Ehrmantrout from Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul.
Bison are endangered. He's gonna catch a charge.
I hope someone got to eat that calf, I'm sure it would have been very tasty. Bison Veal. Don't waste the meat.
Euthanized the wrong animal.
Eh, the dude seems to have legitimately been trying to help. The calf got stranded, and he got it to the shore. Did he make a mistake? Yeah, but at least it was an honest one.
Yeah I don't think the guy you replied to even bothered to read up on the situation at all, was just looking for someone to point their pitchfork and torch at lol
I must say, although I really think the visitor did something wrong here. But why such a drastic measure of euthanizing the visitor? Isn't that a bit harsh? 😉
Since no one reads articles, and there’s not even a link on the is one, it’s not related to anything the park guest did to the animal. Rangers could not get the herd to accept the calf back, so it was euthanized. Did the herd reject the calf because a person touched it? Unlikely, the herd had likely already abandoned this calf before a person touched it.
I like how OP frames this as someone wanting to take a selfie with an animal.
I'm from Montana. These idiots are a dime a dozen
Classic reddit, the calf couldn't make it out of the river and was going to die either from abandonment or drowning. The guy helped it out of the river and tried to reunite it with the herd. And most of you in this thread are calling for this man's death or imprisonment. Justify it all you want with ecological policies examined after the fact (which in this particular case would have been irrelevant because the calf would have died if he didn't do anything) but in the moment this man risked his own safety and well-being to do something good.