Yahoo – AFP,
May 16, 2016
Los Angeles (AFP) - A bison put in a car by tourists because it looked like it was cold had to be put down, officials at Yellowstone National Park said on Monday.
Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times (AFP Photo/John MacDougall) |
Los Angeles (AFP) - A bison put in a car by tourists because it looked like it was cold had to be put down, officials at Yellowstone National Park said on Monday.
The
tourists loaded the animal into their trunk last week and drove it to a ranger
station after taking a photograph that prompted a backlash on social media.
The newborn
had to be euthanized because its mother had rejected it as a result of
"interference by people," officials said.
"In
this case, park rangers tried repeatedly to reunite the newborn bison calf with
the herd. These efforts failed," the park said in a statement on its
website.
"The
bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a
dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the
roadway."
The park
berated visitors for taking selfies and recording video near the bison,
flouting regulations demanding people stay at least 25 yards (23 meters) away.
"In a
recent viral video, a visitor approached within an arm's length of an adult
bison in the Old Faithful area," it said of the park's famous geyser.
"Another video featured visitors posing for pictures with bison at
extremely unsafe and illegal distances."
Five
visitors were seriously injured last year after approaching bison too closely,
the park said.
In the
latest incident, a father and son transported the bison calf in their Toyota
Sequoia to a ranger station in the park's northeast corner, a witness told the
online East Idaho News.
"They
were demanding to speak with a ranger. They were seriously worried that the
calf was freezing and dying," said Karen Richardson, one of several
parents chaperoning a group of fifth-graders on a field trip.
A grizzly
bear and her two cubs approach the carcass of a bison in Yellowstone
National
Park in Wyoming, United States, July 6, 2015. Reuters/Jim Urquhart/File
Photo
|
The website
quoted another parent who told the tourists to remove the bison from their car,
warning they could be in trouble.
"They
didn't care," he said. "They sincerely thought they were doing a
service and helping that calf by trying to save it from the cold."
Critics
shared the picture of the calf in the car on Twitter, scolding the
"dumbass," "stupid" and "idiotic" tourists.
Yellowstone
is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously
since prehistoric times.
The park is
home to 4,900 of the animals, which it says injure more people than any of its
other animals.
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