Many people visit Yellowstone and other national parks every year in an attempt to commune with nature and appreciate the wonders of the great outdoors. And many other people, apparently, visit Yellowstone in an attempt to see how close they can get to a wild animal without being injured.
Some of the people in the latter group were recently captured in a video that was then posted to the TouronsofYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) Instagram account. The video, shot from a distance, shows two people standing mere feet away from a large bison, which is backed up against a wooden building. Luckily, the bison eventually decides to walk away.
"Bunch of idiots cornering a female bison. They cornered that cow for like 20min," wrote the poster who originally shot the video.
According to the National Park Service website, "The animals in Yellowstone are wild and unpredictable, no matter how calm they appear to be. The safest (and often best) view of wildlife is from inside a car. Always stay at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals, including bison and elk."
Unfortunately, this is far from the only instance of tourists getting dangerously close to bison — and other wild animals — that has been captured on video. Some people decided to walk right up to a couple of bison that were fighting each other, and in another instance, a tourist had to play dead to avoid being gored by a charging bison.
While visiting national parks and seeing wild animals in person is always exciting, visitors to these parks should always strive to respect nature and do the least harm possible during their trips. Provoking an animal is dangerous to both you and the animals, as wild animals are sometimes euthanized after they hurt people.
The followers of TouronsofYellowstone were not impressed by these tourists' level of respect for the bison.
"Someone will be dead from their own foolishness at some point," wrote one commenter.
"What is it about Yellowstone that makes people lose their survival instincts?" wrote another.
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