So my initial thoughts here are that that baby bison is 50 Shades of Adorable. At the same time, I recognize that I don’t understand the first thing about bisons and would never seek to be the saviour of one. Granted, I’m not really animal guy. I like dogs, but that’s about where I draw the line. I’ve never even owned a dog. I purchased a hamster once in college and that was fucking disaster. I kept forgetting to feed it and it kept escaping into the walls so eventually I just left it there. It really improved our relationship. It would pop out every few days to find a warmer spot to live. I’d give it a head nod and toss some dry pasta on the floor for it. Thinking back, I kind of miss the thing. I hope whoever lives in that house now remembers to feed it.
Unlike me, a few tourists visiting Yellowstone did seem to fancy themselves bison experts. And, upon seeing a baby bison supposedly struggling in the cold, they decided they needed to save it.
Via East Idaho News:
Karen Richardson of Victor, Idaho, was one of several parents chaperoning a group of fifth-graders on a field trip to Yellowstone this week. Richardson says on Monday, as students were being taught at Lamar Buffalo Ranch, a father and son pulled up at the ranger station with a bison calf in their SUV.
“They were demanding to speak with a ranger,” Richardson tells EastIdahoNews.com. “They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying.”
Rob Heusevelet, a father of a student, told the men to remove the bison from their car and warned they could be in trouble for having the animal.
“They didn’t care,” Heusevelet says. “They sincerely thought they were doing a service and helping that calf by trying to save it from the cold.”
Law enforcement rangers were called and the father-and-son tourists, who were from another country, were ticketed. Heusevelet says the rangers followed the pair back to where they had picked up the bison, and the animal was released. Yellowstone visitors are not allowed to approach wildlife and are to stay at least 25 yards away from large animals, according to the National Park Service website.
Here is (what I’m assuming) is a live look at said father-son duo:
It takes a special kind of person to think that a wild animal who lives outside is too cold and needs to be brought indoors. Imagine living with someone who thought like that? “Uh, hey dad, why is there a raccoon eating out of the garbage in the bathroom?” “Oh he looked cold so I brought him inside. I already called the town to discuss racoon housing for the winter.” “And the family of squirrels in my bedroom?” “Same deal.” You also have to be a weirdo to not laugh at the image of an entire class of 5th graders and their pissed-off, know-it-all helicopter parents yelling at two guys who are in turn are yelling at the Rangers about a baby bison who is probably getting a fear boner while trapped in their trunk. This is why Park Rangers need to carry guns. They’re only one baby bison away from being caught in the middle of a full-scale riot. 5th graders are brutal. While you’re punching a dad in the face, you’re also only one feisty kid away from baby-teeth-in-your-balls city.
Regardless, the Rangers explained the visitors that the bison wasn’t cold but instead lost and scared, in turn leading them to simply drive the bison back to where they found it and letting it go find its mother on its own. Which is better, I guess? Whatever, circle of life.
UPDATE:
Welp, this sucks, but it turns out the baby bison was euthanized by Park Rangers because it was rejected by its mother after a whole mob of people felt it up.
Via The Washington Post:
““Park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the newborn bison calf with the herd. These efforts failed,” the park said. “The bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway.””
I think the real question here is why was killing the nice baby bison the only possible next step. This poor baby bison sounded like it just wanted to be friends with a few people. I’m sure there’s at least one place in the entire continental United States that a kind bison could make a life for itself. Like a zoo? Or Hollywood? There has to be at least one movie coming out in the next five years that could find a job for a house-broken, people-lovin’ bison. Also, how twisted is their logic? “The bison kept walking up to cars and people and we were afraid it was going to get hurt so we decided to nip this one in the bud and just kill it ourselves.” I guess this just goes to show that people have no business getting involved in the natural order. They just make things worse. So leave you local bison population alone, otherwise the people who get paid to watch over them will have to kill them because I guess that is what’s best for them.