Northern Michigan 911 Put Town On High Alert When Bison Was Spotted Standing In The Middle Of The Road: “Please Don’t Pet It”

A bison spotting on a road in Yellowstone National Park? No big deal. But a bison holding up traffic in Northern Michigan? That could cause some issues.

The Northern Michigan town of Grand Traverse was put on high alert earlier today when a bison was spotted in a place where it shouldn’t be. Since there are no wild bison roaming in the great state of Michigan, it meant that someone’s bison farm had experienced a jailbreak of sorts. The whole ordeal even caused the Grand Traverse 911 to put out this message on their socials.

The ending of the message is my favorite:

“BUFFALO IN THE ROAD! There is a buffalo standing on US 31 near McRae Hill. Please slow down in that area. No need to call us, we have units on the way. Thanks, traffic buffs. Update: Yes, it is a Bison. We were setting up a pun. Either way, please don’t pet it or hit it with your car.”

You’d be surprised that people do have to be reminded to not approach and/or pet bison.

Out in Yellowstone National Park, where the bison graze and roam free, there are signs everywhere telling tourists to stay at least 25 yards away from North America’s largest land animal. Their size alone should be intimidating enough to keep people away, but for some reason, individuals have great interest in petting the “fluffy cows.”

And it’s really just absurd. A fully grown bison can weigh over 2,000 pounds, and the massive beasts can also reach top speeds as fast as 30 miles per hour. Add their horns to the mix and that should be all the context clues and body language necessary to tell people to not approach. Yet the Michigan authorities still felt the need to put that “please don’t pet it” message out there.

As sad as this is to say, it probably saved lives.

How a bison got loose in Grand Traverse, Michigan? That’s the million dollar question. One concerned citizen in the area took to Facebook to share news that they had heard, which was three bison had broken out of the Oleson Buffalo Enclosure, which is owned by the local Oleson’s Food Stores – a grocery chain in the area where bison meat is one of their staples.

No wonder the bison were trying to get out…

The good news (or I guess the bad news in the eyes of the animal considering the bison will eventually become a burger) is that the bison was taken back to where it had come from. Or as the Grand Traverse 911 put it:

“Update: We’ve HERD this was resolved.”

They are big fans of puns in Northern Michigan, eh?

All in all, it seems as though this story ended about as well as it could’ve (except for the bison, who we assume went back to the farm). No one petted on the bison, and no one accidentally hit it with their car. But was that just coincidence, or the town of Grand Traverse following orders from the 911 social media message?The post Northern Michigan 911 Put Town On High Alert When Bison Was Spotted Standing In The Middle Of The Road: “Please Don’t Pet It” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.