A bison calf in Yellowstone National Park was recently euthanized after visitors placed the calf in their vehicle because they thought the animal was too cold.
According to a release from Yellowstone National Park, the herd rejected the calf after the human encounter last week. After several failed attempts to reunite the newborn bison with its mother, the calf was euthanized. The YNP release says the young bison was abandoned and created a dangerous situation by “continually approaching people and cars along the roadway.”
A Yellowstone National Park representative was not immediately available for comment about the incident and the decision to euthanize.
This is just one of many example of what YNP representatives are calling “inappropriate, dangerous, and illegal behavior with wildlife.”
In another video which went viral, a visitor was seen approaching a bison within an arm’s length in the Old Faithful area. In another video, visitors posed for photos with the animal from very close up.
YNP reminds people that five visitors were seriously injured last year when they approached bison. Bison actually injure more visitors in Yellowstone than any other animal.
The National Park reminds people that park regulations require that you stay at least 25 yards away from all wildlife (including bison, elk and deer) and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves.
***UPDATE*** Yellowstone National Park left the following explanation on their Facebook Page after seeing a number of comments asking why the calf was euthanized.
Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to read this post and share our safety messages. We’re reading through your comments and noticed many people asking why the calf had to be euthanized.
In order to ship the calf out of the park, it would have had to go through months of quarantine to be monitored for brucellosis. No approved quarantine facilities exist at this time, and we don’t have the capacity to care for a calf that’s too young to forage on its own. Nor is it the mission of the National Park Service to rescue animals: our goal is to maintain the ecological processes of Yellowstone. Even though humans were involved in this case, it is not uncommon for bison, especially young mothers, to lose or abandon their calves. Those animals typically die of starvation or predation.”