Monday, May 16, 2016

Baby Bison Euthanized After Yellowstone Tourists Kidnap It.

Humans suck. I mean we really s-u-c-k.

Officials from Yellowstone National Park released the sad news today that they were forced to euthanize a recently born bison calf. Last week, two brain-dead park visitors thought it was a bright idea to load the calf into the back of their vehicle, then drive it to the closest park ranger's office because it 'looked cold'. What these numb-skulls failed to consider is that close human contact with the calf would cause its herd to abandon it. Essentially, they kidnapped the baby calf from its mother and sentenced it to death.

A bystander took this photo of the calf after the visitors put it in their vehicle.

Over the course of this past week, rangers tried to get the baby's herd to accept it back, but they wouldn't out of pure instinct. The calf was reported as being left behind repeatedly, often approaching other visitors for comfort or begging for food. If ever there were a sad wildlife story, this is it.

Since the baby couldn't be reacclimated with its herd, it was put down as to not suffer from starvation and abandonment. Wild bison mothers are commonly known to leave their young if humans interact with them, as was the case in this instance. Had the animal been allowed to live, its high level of familiarity with humans would have surely been a safety hazard upon reaching maturity.


Yellowstone National Park makes it very clear that all visitors should abstain from approaching bison, much less touch them. The park rules state that all visitors should keep 25 yards from all wildlife and 100 yards from bears and wolves. And yet, year after year, people are injured or killed by bison in Yellowstone. Last year alone, five people were severely gored after getting too close.

A little common sense goes a long way when it comes to wildlife. Unfortunately, the visitors probably didn't learn anything from their disastrous actions. Their punishment for killing the baby calf? A paltry $110 fine. It makes me sick to my stomach.

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