What a needlessly tragic loss of life…
A baby bison in Yellowstone National Park is now dead after some “good Samaritans” unknowingly isolated the calf from its herd last week.
Apparently, a father and son were visiting a stretch of park in Idaho when they noticed a newborn bison lying on the road.
Video: Watch Mark Ruffalo Run With Some Buffalo!
In an effort to “save” the calf, the tourists proceeded to carry the animal to their SUV to “keep it warm,” but unfortunately, authorities then had no way of locating the rest of his family.
Yellowstone public affairs specialist Charissa Reid spoke to People on Tuesday about their difficult decision to euthanize the little guy after some life-saving attempts, saying:
“The rangers on scene did a heroic job trying to get that bison to go back to the herd nearby, even using lights and sirens on their vehicles to get it to move away from the road and reunite with the other buffalo. But with no idea of where the calf came from or which mama bison it belonged to, there wasn’t much else they could do. The baby buffalo had to be put down.
It would have had to go through months of quarantine to be monitored for [diseases.] Our job here is not to rescue animals, but to maintain the ecological processes and integrity of this wild place. Yellowstone isn’t a zoo.
Unfortunately, there was nothing more that could be done and the baby bison had to be euthanized when it caused a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway.”
We get that park rangers didn’t really have any other choice… but we can’t help but feel like there should be a system in place in case something like this ever happens again.
The father and son pair are not currently facing charges since it is believed they were trying to do the right thing, but authorities are still investigating the incident.
Do U think there should be some sort of punishment for our “heroes”? Or are their consciences facing consequence enough?
[Image via Karen Richardson/Facebook.]
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