Yellowstone National Park Visitors Ignorantly Encourage Their Little Kid To Pose Next To Resting Bison

Immediate disqualification from the “Parent of the Year” award.

I don’t mean to sound dramatic, but surely encouraging your kid to walk up to a bison at Yellowstone National Park counts as child endangerment? When I see clips like this go viral online, it makes my blood boil. And it’s almost always taking place at the national park out in Wyoming (and parts of Idaho and Montana).

Unfortunately, there’s an epidemic that hits Yellowstone every summer… and it seemingly only affects individuals who don’t have enough common sense to give wildlife personal space. We see it time and time (and time) again, and the latest example of tourists getting way too close for comfort to an animal might be one of the worst ones we’ve ever seen.

In the video that you’ll see below, the mother of the child can be seen posing in front of a bison. She’s got her back turned to the animal (first-team, all-American dumb) and she’s putting her fingers on top of her head… to mimic the horns on the resting bison.

If you thought that was bad, just you wait. Seconds later, she encouraged the small kid to move closer to the 2,000 pound beast and join in on the posing and picture taking. The footage is as cringey as it gets, and almost hard to believe. But trust me, it’s as real as it gets. The dangerous situation played out despite multiple warnings directed at the mother and her child (both by others tourists telling them not to do so and by signs posted around the park).

The person filming could hardly believe their eyes as they captured it on video, and can be heard saying:

“Maybe the worst I’ve ever seen. Not the kid, not the kid… no, no, no, no.”

The National Park Service advises tourists to stay 25 yards away from animals that are deemed “non-violent.” That list includes bison, elk, and other creatures that tend to be relatively docile – though docile is a relative term. When it comes to bears, wolves, and other apex predators, the NPS warns park goers to keep 100-yards between them and the animals.

Maybe they should just go ahead and stretch that number out to 100-yards for every animal, eh? I’m just saying that because we get far too many press releases from Yellowstone National Park explaining how a somehow unaware tourist dangerously approached a wild animal inside the park, then proceeded to pay the price. Fortunately for this mother and her child, they were able to walk away unharmed.

And according to the person who caught it all on camera, they were about to chew out the family that was putting their child in harm’s way just before a park ranger came in to condemn the family’s actions:

“This one was next level. I got out when the kid came to join the mom and tell them how unsafe it was but the ranger was just walking up to them.”

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Sheesh… all that for a photo op.

At the end of the day, it’s obviously a parent’s job to protect their child… and this woman was doing the exact opposite with her kiddo while visiting the world-famous national park. It’s not a petting zoo, people… maybe that’s what the big sign should say as you enter into Yellowstone National Park?The post Yellowstone National Park Visitors Ignorantly Encourage Their Little Kid To Pose Next To Resting Bison first appeared on Whiskey Riff.