Bison are big, surly, aggressive beasts.

Would people take grizzly bear selfies or wolf selfies?

Don't answer that.

trying to touch a bull moose, hand feeding a squirrel and swimming with alligators; is there any end of idiocy? I nominate them for Darwin awards.

I've watched men try to intimidate a very large bull Bison at Theodore Roosevelt National Park
in North Dakota...stupid, stupid man!

People have no respect for wild animals and do horribly stupid things! Why would a rational human being put a 6 year old in danger like that?

Damn!

We use our technology to almost wipe out the bison, and then eventually we get distracted enough by our technology that the bison take us out.

They think that if it's possible for them to be only six feet away from a bison, then it must be safe. Otherwise they wouldn't let me get this close, right?

I recently read Death in Yellowstone, which details all the deaths that have occurred in that park since the late 1800s. Park enthusiasts are resistant to making the place so safe that people can no longer get hurt there. They don't want it to become sanitized and 'Disney-fied'. They encourage everyone to educate themselves about what the dangers actually are, and to take appropriate precautions. But even though there are ample warning signs, some folks just can't seem to internalize it.

to some people. Worked there one summer and the stories of idiots were part of training. Put your kid on the back of a black bear for a pic; surround the elk feeding in a field; hand feed the bears; etc.

People don't even read the signs that try to save their lives!

... not especially afraid of wolves, mountain lions, or grizzly bears, and with a special hard-evolved deep suspicion of humans.

Not a good photo op.

moron subspecies.

Endangering herself is one thing, but putting her 6-year-old at such risk-- well, I am reminded of the dad who smeared his 2-year-old's cheek with honey in order to get a picture of a bear "kissing" her.

They think nature, the wilderness, and wild animals are all just part of a Disney theme park.

The most common bad outcome human - animal interaction involves bison.

Those things are HUGE. I mean REALLY huge. Like more than 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and 2000 pounds not uncommon. And the word 'surly' is quite an apt description of their temperament. They like to use their skulls as battering rams, or horns to hook and launch whatever happens to bother them at the time. Then they are likely to trample whatever is still moving, just to be sure the threat is eliminated.

Don't mess with them. It will not be pretty.

admittedly limited interactions with bison (far, far more experience with black angus cattle), I would not consider this to have been a wise choice. Although they appear rather docile in certain nickels, they are not a particularly friendly animal in real life. Powerful, and beautiful in their own way. But not friendly.

They don't realize the danger of a huge wild animal standing a few feet away that can move very quickly for it's size.

doesn't mean they are gentle. Some people are fucking dumb.

I was walking on a trail around a rock outcropping, and when I turned a corner one was right there about 20-30 feet away. I turned around and went back the other way.

Can't believe people are dumb enough to approach those things on purpose.

wild animal capable of attacking and try to take a picture with it. I love animals, but damned if I would walk up to a wild bison.

as one that truly connects with animals, more than anyone else!


And people love their selfies.

When I was a teen, my dad decided to raise high-quality bulls to supplement our farm's usual beef/corn/soy/milk income. He actually did pretty well at it too, for a couple of years. Lots of farms in the county had our bulls in their herds.

One day, a particularly vicious one we just called Whitie almost gored my mom. She did a sliding dive under the fence gate that would have made a New York Yankee proud, and that bastard slammed into that fence so hard it rocked the fence posts in the ground.

My mom refused to be anywhere near those animals again after that, and shortly thereafter a farmer bought that monster (against my dad's advice).

A month later, said farmer was in the hospital with multiple broken bones.

And this was with a (supposedly) domesticated animal, raised it's entire life around people, probably a few hundred pounds lighter than this bison, not a true wild beast.