A photo shared by the National Park Service shows a visitor trying to reunite a stranded bison with its herd. The plan ultimately ended the animal’s chances of survival.
Helen Jack/National Park Service
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Helen Jack/National Park Service
A photo shared by the National Park Service shows a visitor trying to reunite a stranded bison with its herd. The plan ultimately ended the animal’s chances of survival.
Helen Jack/National Park Service
Yellowstone National Park rangers killed a newborn bison after a visitor touched the animal, trying to help it catch up with his herd. The National Park Service said Tuesday.
According to a press release from the agency, the herd crossed the Lamar River on Saturday night when the young was separated from its mother on the riverbank. A man observing the scene approached the animal with clear intentions to rescue.
NPS said: “As the calf struggled, the man pushed the calf out of the river and onto the road. “Visitors then observed the calf coming and following cars and people.”
Park rangers have repeatedly tried to reunite the calf with the herd, but the herd has resisted.
Rangers later euthanized the calf, saying its persistence in approaching the cars posed a danger to guests, according to the NPS.
NPS is investigating the incident and asked the public to share any information regarding a tip line. The agency has yet to identify the man behind the incident, describing him as “a white male in his 40s and 50s, wearing a blue shirt and black pants.”
Yellowstone requires visitors to stay at least 25 meters away from its two breeding herds of bison. 5,900 animals at last count in 2022. The park is the only place in the contiguous United States that has maintained a continuous free-range bison population since prehistoric times.
Yellowstone’s cattle were nearly poached to extinction in the late 1800s. Today, park guests can spot the animals nearly year-round and from roadways in places like Wyoming’s Lamar Valley, the confluence of rivers in the northeastern corner of the park.
NPS has frequently defended its policy of not interfering with the natural death of animals on public lands, including orphaned young.
“Our focus is on maintaining viable populations of native wildlife species, rather than protecting individual animals,” reads a policy NPS website. “Animal survival depends on its own daily decisions and natural selection.”
NPS did not immediately respond to NPR’s question about whether the man could face charges of handling the animal.
