Yellowstone Tourist Taunts Bison: ‘Reckless, Dangerous, Illegal’

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY — It’s not clear why a man jumped out of his vehicle and began taunting a bison as it crossed the road in Yellowstone National Park earlier this week, but park officials say what he did was reckless, dangerous and an example of what not to do when encountering wildlife.

Lindsey Jones’ video of the man’s encounter with the bison shows him waving his arms, perhaps in an attempt to shoo it away so he could get on his way. Whatever the reason, the bison wasn’t fazed, and at one point charged at the man, who was standing in the middle of the road in his socks.

He and the bison eventually parted ways peacefully and it doesn’t appear the man was hurt. But he surely could have been, Yellowstone officials said.

“The individual's behavior in this video is reckless, dangerous and illegal,” a spokesman for the public affairs office of Yellowstone National Park told ABC News. “We need people to be stewards of Yellowstone, and one way to do that is to keep your distance from wildlife.”

And hear this: “These are not Elsie the cow,” wildlife expert and photographer Ron Magill told ABC News of the bison that roam the park. “This is a wild animal that fights for aggression, fights for territory.”

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Yellowstone National Park requires visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, coyotes, nesting birds, and 100 yards away from bears and wolves. The code of conduct says visitors must not “entice wildlife with food, animal calls or any actions that will change their behavior.”

Last year there were five bison attacks in Yellowstone, CBS News reported.

And as recently as June, a 59-year-old California woman was gored by a bull bison when she and other visitors got too close — within five yards — and agitated the animal. She was hospitalized with a hip injury.

Also in June, two people were injured in elk attacks three days apart. In one of the incidents a 53-year-old Texas woman was attacked by a female elk with a calf behind Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. In another incident behind the same hotel, a 51-year-old woman was kicked in the head and body by a female elk.

Park officials didn’t know if it was the same elk, but said they aggressively defend their young, according to CBS and its affiliate, KGWN.

Jones’ video of the man versus bison encounter on Tuesday has been viewed at least 5.5 million times.

File photo via Shuterstock / media_digital