The bison calf, according to the statement, caused “a risky situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway”. Nor is it the mission of the National Park Service to rescue animals: our goal is to maintain the ecological processes of Yellowstone. “They were seriously anxious that the calf was freezing and dying”.
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The tourists involved in moving the bison were cited.
In terms of human safety, this was a unsafe activity because adult animals are very protective of their young and will act aggressively to defend them. But park officials say the newborn calf had to be euthanized because its herd rejected it.
But when rangers took the animal back where it belonged, it was rejected by its herd – and had to be euthanised.
A newborn bison calf that was put in the back of a auto by visitors to Yellowstone National Park who thought it was cold had to be put down after the animal’s mother rejected it when it was returned to the herd.
The father and son, who were visiting Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, loaded the animal into their trunk last week and drove it to a ranger station after taking a photograph that prompted a backlash on social media.
It’s not the first time visitors to the park have got up close and personal with bison.
“Leave the animals and leave the wildlife alone because it can cause a serious, unsafe situation for them, their families”.
The incident last week and several other recent cases led to fresh warnings that park rules require visitors to stay at least 25 yards from all wildlife and 100 yards from bears and wolves.
“These efforts failed”, park officials said. She would not name the visitors nor provide a copy of the citation they received.
Such reminders are included on Yellowstone’s website, in information handed to visitors as they come in and on signs throughout the park, Reid said. But past year, we had five incidents where people were gored and seriously hurt because they got too close. The animal was eventually euthanized as a result.
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It wasn’t, park officials said – it was the human interference that actually endangered the animal.
