It’s said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes, but there’s a strong contender for a third: tourists behaving foolishly in national parks during peak seasons.
Tourons of National Parks is a social media page dedicated to documenting the escapades of so-called tourons (tourists + morons).
One video posted to Facebook and Instagram (@touronsofyellowstone) shows a pair of visitors narrowly escaping serious injury at the hooves of a rather prickly bison during mating season.
The caption pulled no punches: “That lady got lucky she wasn’t flung up into the air with a giant horn up her backside.”
As the National Park Service notes, the summer rut is a particularly stressful season for the bison. The air is filled with the bellows of bulls competing to win the affections of females through displays of aggression and violent clashes with rivals.
A male can lose as much as 200 pounds during the season, equivalent to 12% of his body weight. While there’s never a good time to get up close and personal with bison, mating season is easily the most dangerous.
Injuries can and do happen with alarming frequency. A mature bull weighs over 2,000 pounds and can move seriously fast, around 30 miles an hour, in short bursts.
It’s precisely why the National Park Service urges visitors to keep their distance from park wildlife: “If animals react to your presence you are too close.”
For large herbivores, that distance should be at least 75 feet, or roughly the length of two buses. Bears and wolves should be given an even wider berth.
The conduct shown in the clip is especially unfortunate because the parks represent an ideal eco-friendly vacation destination. Getting out there and reconnecting with nature is a wonderful way to boost physical and mental health. It’s important to enjoy what the parks have to offer but to do so responsibly. “Leave no trace” is a good maxim to live by.
It’s fair to say the comments were firmly on the side of the bison in this encounter.
One commenter on Instagram said, “That was a polite warning.”
A Facebook commenter added, “They should be banned from the parks.”
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