A visitor at Yellowstone National Park taunted a bison with food, resulting in the animal charging at him.
An ABC News video showed the visitor tried to approach and feed the bison. It charged, but the man was able to escape. The chase was short, and at the end of the video, the man could be seen walking toward the bison again.
These kinds of encounters can end poorly. Park staff advise visitors to keep at least 25 yards away from bison since they can run three times faster than a human and to run away in case they attack. While Yellowstone is full of large wildlife, bison have injured more people than any other animal in the park, according to the National Park Service.
Bison protection in Yellowstone has been called “one of the greatest wildlife conservation success stories of all time.” The species was hunted nearly to extinction, but a breeding program in 1902 has helped the creatures recover. “Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times,” per the NPS.
As habitat degradation due to human land development increases, wildlife will be pushed into more of these volatile interactions. Much of it can be avoided by simply being more conscientious than the man in this video, but this example also illustrates how important food is to animal behavior.
The availability of new food sources from human activity shapes animal behavior in destructive ways. For example, multiple generations of bears have been found surviving at the same garbage dump. By maintaining habitat protections and providing wild animals the space they need to survive, it’s possible to give even the most threatened species a chance to flourish.
TikTokers were frustrated by the behavior in the video.
“I used to work here,” one person said. “For people who don’t know, Yellowstone has a jail in the park and people who do this get arrested and cannot go home until they have their court date. People have been stuck there for weeks after getting caught doing this. Knock it the hell off.”
“Why can’t people leave them alone? They are beautiful creatures that deserve to be left alone. Lucky the bison didn’t continue chasing him,” someone else wrote.
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