quote:

The 72-year-old unnamed woman got within 10 feet of the bison “multiple times” while at her Bridge Bay Campground to take photos before it attacked, the National Park Services wrote in a press release.

If it's not bison it's bears that people somehow seem to get it in their heads that the animals in a National Park are domesticated or the park is somehow a petting zoo. It's not like there aren't ample examples of the animals harming and even killing people. Or the park service is negligent in issuing warnings about approaching animals or how to avoid contact with apex predators like a grizzly bear. At 72 years old you would think some of this info would have creeped into this woman's brain and formed into logic.

One good thing that came out of Covid is the animals within these parks were given a respite from the two legged fools. As a result they may be even less tolerant of any human intrusion.

Link

It seems many people do indeed think it is a petting zoo and we turn off the thermal features at night...

PC

This seems to happen a couple times a year in Yellowstone. The press covers each incident fully but I guess people don't (or can't) read.

I number of years ago, my wife and I rode in a CJ5 through a ranchers field where he was raising both buffalo and beefalo. We got right up close and personal. It was in the dead of winter and we'd see the steam coming off of their backs and the snot coming out of their noses. The rancher said "don't make and sudden moves. One of these big guys flipped a Jeep over the other day with his horns." Very impressive.

Between buffalo and grizzly bears, people just want to pet these little guys.

She should definitely speak to the manager about that.

"All of the scenes in this program, whether actual or created, depict authenticated facts."

Forum member T Mats could probably expound on this with numerous personal anecdotes. I might also recommend finding a copy of ‘Death in Yellowstone; Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park’ by Lee H. Whittlesby, he mentions that this sort of thing has happened since the park was first opened, with some people being of the thought process that the park rangers train the animals during the winter off season.

Disney movies and other movies showing how easy going and intelligent wild animals are. And how loving they are.

These folks don't watch the documentaries showing hyenas disemboweling a wildebeast.

I think the odds are good that she believes she communicates with animals on a spiritual plane. Right now she's wondering why the bison didn't get her message that they are brother and sister, and she meant no harm.



.

The flaw in your question is the belief that all people think. Thinking people say: buffalo big, buffalo wild, do not piss off (or on) buffalo, observe from distance.

BTW, I lasted 32 seconds (of screaming agony).

You make the parks more accessible, you make it easier for the people that have no business there to interact with nature. I don't think anyone will argue that a large portion of the general population is really stupid, and now in many places they can walk or drive down a paved path that leads right up to that bison or grizzly. 20 or even 10 years ago people still got hurt by nature, but your average Instagram idiot looking to devote 30 seconds to a picture had a hard time getting close enough to hug a grizzly.

I don’t think they do think. I think they emote most choices.

A lot of these animals probably get fed by tourists (even if it's against park rules), and have both lost all fear of humans, and see them as a source of food. So some animal will let the tourists approach, which other tourists see (both live, and now on countless web videos.) But if a ton of bison is having a a bad day and gets annoyed, anyone getting close will have a major problem.

Here's an example with black bears:




Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB9uzMjiYSQ

quote:

Originally posted by clubleaf206:
Forum member T Mats could probably expound on this with numerous personal anecdotes. I might also recommend finding a copy of ‘Death in Yellowstone; Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park’ by Lee H. Whittlesby, he mentions that this sort of thing has happened since the park was first opened, with some people being of the thought process that the park rangers train the animals during the winter off season.

Death In Yellowstone is on my reading list. Just downloaded The Twenty Ninth Day to my Kindle the other day but haven't got a chance to start to reading it yet. Chronicles how a canoeist survived a grizzly attack in the Canadian wilderness.

quote:

Originally posted by BBMW:
Here's an example with black bears:

Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB9uzMjiYSQ

And one day, someone's gonna ask, "Hey...isn't this Vince's hat in this pile of bear shit??"

There's a lot of stupidity amongst the populace once they get in-between trees.

Yosemite has this same problem, while there's no more grizzlies, the black bears have pretty much become domesticated pests due to human carelessness with policing up their trash and not securing food, in both campgrounds and vehicles. Plenty of videos of a bears peeling back car doors and opening sunroofs in parking lots to get into that cooler. Campgrounds are overrun and annihilated because somebody thought it'd be cute to leave some food out because they wanted to see a bear. Some get their wish, in spades; here comes a fully grown mother with two cubs, ransacking your food locker along with tearing apart your tent and gear because your kids just had to keep their s'more snacks inside. Sure, yell at the big bear, make sure she doesn't think you're threatening her cubs, you might have an otherworldly experience.

Used to really enjoy Lion Country Safari down in Loxahatchee, FL.

They couldn’t keep folks from rolling down their windows or getting out of their vehicles in... the LION enclosure... so now the lions are behind fences and it’s just not the same.

I really, really hate idiots and assholes that ruin things for the rest of us.

-Rob

On the subject of bears, if you're being chased by one, you won't outrun it. In 2016 I drove through the Cade's Cove section of the Smoky Mountains. A little black blur - the cub - ran in front of my car, then a few seconds later a much larger blur - the mother - ran by. They had to be going a good 35 mph.

Yuppers. Many moons back I was watching a clip of a movie shot on 16mm taken by a civilian showing a park ranger in Yoho PP, being chased by a bear. Only being able to leap a ten-foot fire-break ditch saved him, and he managed it not because of his outstanding athletic ability, but because the horse he was riding at the time didn't want to get ett. That, too, was moving at around 30-mph or so, UPHILL.

Whhhhaaaatttttttt ??? You mean Bisons aren't friendly pets?





Link to original video: https://youtu.be/SJbK_2FnxSY

About 40 years ago, wife and I and a German couple who was visiting us, we were in Yellowstone.

Came around a curve in the road, and there was a traffic jam! Probably 50 cars, lots of pedestrians, several black bears begging for cookies, etc. I stated, clearly, that we were NOT going to get out of the car.

Saw one big female bear take hold of the side window on a car ahead of us, and destroyed the window. She was looking for more treats, and the folks in the car didn't have any more.

Saw another idiot female plant her 3 or 4 year old on the back of a big bear. We could not go forward due to the traffic jam of idiots, so I did a U turn and headed back out of the park.

As I approached the entrance it was manned by a park policeman. Told him about it, and he just looked at me, smiled, and admitted that it happened all the time, and most every day some knothead got bit or gored by bears or buffalo.