PHUCK!!!!! That baby bison was euthanized because the mother rejected it

[joeybee12]

(Reuters) - Yellowstone National Park managers on Monday warned visitors to leave wildlife alone after two tourists put a newborn bison calf in their car, touching off a string of events that led to the animal's death.

The visitors from outside the United States came across the baby bison alone last week and decided to drive the calf to a park facility, unaware that interference with newborn animals could cause their mothers to reject them, park managers said in a statement.

Yellowstone rangers repeatedly tried to reunite the calf with the herd but those efforts failed. Ultimately, the abandoned calf was euthanized because it repeatedly approached people and cars along the roadway, raising safety concerns, officials said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/yellowstone-issues-warning-visitors-put-baby-bison-car-201807614.html

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Damn. And all these "do-gooders" got was a citation? I hope there is a hefty fine attached.

[malaise]

2. Sickening

Self-absorbed busy bodies disgust me.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

9. It's likely the only reason they could do what they did was the animal was doomed.

They were wrong in what they did, but they were probably not wrong that the animal was in bad shape.

[KittyWampus]

10. Every year people find new born fawns and bring them in for 'saving'.

"Oh, the poor abandoned fawn."

The reality is females drop their babies anywhere when the time comes, leave them during the day and come back at night to nurse them.

People need to learn to leave new born animals where they are. It's almost never abandoned or in need.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

16. Bison are not deer

They herd and the mothers are very defensive. They also wouldn't freely approach humans if they were attached to a herd.

[libdem4life]

26. I read your lengthy post last night and learned a lot of things

I did not know. I've never encountered any of this, but now I know what Not to do.

[Brickbat]

3. I'm wondering if she'd already rejected it in the first place.

[petronius]

5. That would be my guess - I doubt they would have successfully loaded it in

the car with an attentive mother bison nearby.

Sad story, but one that I'm sure plays out dozens/scores/hundreds/+ of times in Yellowstone each year (in species across the photogenic spectrum) -- this one is only noticed because of the very-likely-irrelevant involvement of the humans...

[MH1]

6. Good point. To be honest, I don't like the public shaming these people are getting.

I feel bad because what they did was wrong, but it appears that they went to some trouble to do what they thought was right.

I just don't think people should get dumped on like this when they make a mistake with good intentions. A million animals get killed out of terrible intentions. Let's turn our ire on those people, and think about how we can better communicate about how not to make this mistake. (I know, the Park Service is trying, and has tried, and sometimes it will still fail.)

[alarimer]

24. I hate this recent trend towards public shaming.

It really feels, well, icky, for lack of a better word.

The piling-on is just so unnecessary. The authorities are dealing with it; I'm sure they have to deal with this sort of thing all the time, unfortunately, because people really don't know.

I think the problem is that people think Yellowstone is more like a zoo than a place where wild animals go. Maybe individual cars should be banned on that road and only tour buses allowed, with guides. (Think African safaris, where access is better controlled).

[joeybee12]

7. Could be, but I've lived in Yellowstone for 3 years...

Baby bison are very active and playful...could have just gone a little farther away while Mom was grazing.

[KittyWampus]

13. I don't think so. It is more likely that bison are like deer. Drop their babies wherever

they are when the time comes, leave it there during the day and come back at night to nurse.

[Brickbat]

14. They're not.

[KittyWampus]

17. Okay.

[alphafemale]

8. If the poor thing was rejected it may have already had a defect of some kind.

Nature is cruel as fuck.

Herd animals will reject a weak animal.

That doesn't fit the Disney vision of how we want animals to be, but it is how things are.

[gladium et scutum]

18. Nature is not cruel

it is totally impartial on the outcome.

[woolldog]

19. The outcome can be cruel.

[gladium et scutum]

20. yes, that is true

Nature is neutral in the outcome. The wolf must kill to live, for the wolf to live, another animal must die. If the wolf cannot make the kill, it will die, the prey will live.

[LostOne4Ever]

23. Nature is very cruel.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=#009999]The original smokey the bear can attest to that.

Lost his family and was burned in a forest fire.[/font]

[MagickMuffin]

11. So, there wasn't a way to save the baby by bottle feeding it?

It seems to me there could have been a way to save it. They do make bottle feeders for calves. I know that we sometimes had to use them when I was a kid living on our little suburban farm.

RIP, baby bison

[Brickbat]

12. No.

It's very, very difficult to raise a bison calf that hasn't been weaned. They're not domesticated.

[MagickMuffin]

15. Well that explains that, however, has anyone tried doing this

and it just doesn't work.

Sad, sad, sad.

[backscatter712]

21. As Yellowstone rangers know all too well, people are fucking stupid.

If the mother was a little quicker on the uptake, those people would have gotten a mention on the Darwin Awards web site.

And the rangers have to put up with this shit all the time.

"Hey little Johnny, want to ride the elk? I'll put you on the one with the big antlers!"

[Quantess]

22. This is the saddest news I have heard all day.

Those stupid tourists need to do some self-educational community service, if there is such a thing.

[GulfCoast66]

25. I do not disagree

But if they were able to catch it, and not get attacked by its mother, chances are it was doomed already.

And getting killed by wolves is not a great way to go.