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I live by Yellowstone, so get information about this sort of thing in the local news. This event was on trails in the Old Faithful area. When bison get in the way of travel at the thermal areas, often/usually rangers try (demand) to get people to either wait or turn around. Getting off trail in thermal areas is as dangerous as annoying the animals. There are so many people doing so many stupid things in the big site-seeing areas, there aren’t enough rangers to keep people “kind of” safe. Further, there is a much higher percentage of inexperienced people who would have no earthly idea of what to do about a large animal on the trail, on the trails near Old Faithful/Norris/Mammoth, than in other areas of the park. I’ve watched the video 10 or so times, partly wondering when I’m going to see a similar event play out in person. I’m not sure if the people running to the right are the kid’s parents but I’ve heard many people blame them for running away and leaving the child. I would think having a kid in the thermal areas would be terrifying, if they truly knew the danger. If the child’s hat blows off and they go off to retrieve it, they can break through the crust and die in a flash. It seems to be hard for folks to understand just how dangerous the thermals are, AND, just how dangerous the wildlife is. When I hike in the backcountry, I try to be aware of bears, but my concern is about bison.
They are not going to put the bison down. It was just doing what bison do.
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Large herbivores are "under-rated". They don't eat meat (us), right? When we think of dangerous animals we tend to think of the predators like bears, lions, and wolves. But you're many times more likely to be inured or killed by a moose or bison (US/Canada), or a hippo or buffalo (Africa), or even a domesticated cow (anywhere) - than lions, tigers and bears, Oh my! Then there's the whole doggone mans best friend thing to consider.
