Watch: Yellowstone Park Tourist Nearly Gets Bison Bulldozed
In what might be the final Yellowstone National Park touron video of April, a visitor can be seen walking up to within just a few feet of a massive bison. As one would expect, the animal didn't appreciate it and responded accordingly.
The slang term touron is a word that was coined in recent years that describes a visitor to a United States park who acts in a manner that reflects a high level of stupidity when interacting with wildlife. We see these amateur videos shared frequently on sites such as Reddit and YouTube that show tourists often at times nearly getting injured by wildlife reacting to the reckless actions from the public.
A brief video shared on Thursday (April 28) shows a Yellowstone Park visitor with a camera walking up to a wild bison that appears to be grazing near a walking path as snow lightly falls. The animal quickly turns toward the man and proceeds to chase him off. There are signs posted throughout the park that warn tourists against such behavior.
I've spent a good amount of time in the park, and have personally witnessed many of these acts of stupidity. Park docents also spend entire afternoons discussing the dangers of such wildlife interactions, and yet dozens of tourists ignore the advice on a weekly basis. This behavior is carried out at parks throughout the world and has proved fatal for some humans.
Remember to obey all signs when visiting our nation's parks. It's never advised to approach any wild animals on foot.