This man won't win any "Father of the Year" awards.
A family visit to Yellowstone National Park could have ended in disaster when a father carried his child incredibly close to a mother bison and her young calf grazing at the side of a road.
Seeing bison in the wild is amazing, but the park warns visitors to remain at least 25 yards away from the animals at all times, as their behavior can be unpredictable, and they are liable to charge. If a mother feels that her offspring is in danger, the possibility of them acting in defense increases.
The father approached around 10 yards away, and before long, the cow, who could weigh up to 1,000 pounds, started to close the gap. The animal even made some frustrated grunts to let the tourists know they had gotten too close.
Footage of the close encounter was submitted to the touronsofnationalparks Instagram page (@touronsofnationalparks) by Yellowstone tour guide David Morris (@307fernweh), and the comments section was amazed at how irresponsible the father's actions were.
"The animal is warning them," one user said. "This is child endangerment at the very least. Ppl need to be arrested for these things & then maybe they will stop traumatizing these poor animals and putting children in danger."
Not only did the patriarch put his little girl in peril, but he also made it a dangerous situation for the bison.
The bovines have attacked more humans at Yellowstone than any other animal, and if the mother bison added the father and daughter to this statistic, it's likely it would have been euthanized for fear of attacking other park-goers.
Furthermore, if calves interact with humans, there is a chance they will not be accepted back into the herd, and they will also likely be put to sleep.
Sadly, it's not the first time a tourist has put a child in danger by invading the personal space of animals at Yellowstone.
Getting up close to a wild bison might seem like a way to give kids a memory they will never forget, but disrespecting the park's rules could lead to a situation they probably won't want to remember.
"What the heck?" another Instagrammer said. "I would like to know if the father had preplanned an escape in case the bison ran at them and if so...what the heck he thought he was going to do???"
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