There comes a point where human sympathy completely goes out the window when folks do incredibly stupid things in the great outdoors. I seriously do not know how many times the general public needs to be reminded of this golden rule, but we will say it again: keep your distance from the wild animals when you visit a national park.
Right now, there are roughly 5,000 bison roaming freely across the sprawling plains of Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, that pristine, majestic landscape also attracts an endless parade of absolute morons who apparently think they just walked through the turnstiles of a petting zoo at the local county fair. They see a fluffy, two-ton beast grazing in a meadow, and instead of admiring it from a safe distance, their first instinct is to run up and try to take a selfie.
Every year like clockwork, as soon as the weather warms up and the park starts to get busy, viral video after viral video emerges of people flirting with disaster. Injuries are far too common, and I’m not even talking about the countless bozos who miraculously manage to dodge a charging bull at the last possible second or dive behind a rented Subaru Outback to save their own lives. Every single summer, the internet is flooded with viral clips of people finding out the hard way.
But let’s be brutally honest here—this epidemic of tourists acting like absolute fools is not a new trend brought on by the smartphone era. Ever since Yellowstone officially opened its borders to the public, people have been doing ridiculously dumb stuff in the presence of wildlife. If you need concrete proof that human stupidity is a tale as old as time, just look at this absolutely wild vintage footage.
It is a little tough to pin down the exact decade this clip was filmed, but judging by the incredibly grainy picture quality and the classic aesthetic, it has been sitting in the archives for quite a while. There is a brief second where the video seems to indicate 1992, and that lines up perfectly with the vibe so we’ll just assume that is accurate. Regardless of the specific era, the storyline remains exactly the same. Some guy gets the incredibly bright idea to go tangle with a full-grown, defensive bison, and the consequences are predictably disastrous.
With barely any physical effort and just the slightest, just a casual flick of its massive head, the bison literally launches this dude straight up into a nearby pine tree. We are talking some serious, hang time here… at least ten feet of air. You watch this guy go flying, flipping around completely out of control, before violently crashing back down through the heavy branches. The sheer, raw power of the animal is absolutely terrifying to witness. It effortlessly tosses a fully grown man like a crumpled-up piece of paper.
Miraculously, the man reportedly emerged from the chaotic encounter with only a wound to his leg, which was presumably a deep puncture from the bison’s horn. But seriously, dude, what in the world did you think was going to happen? When you play stupid games in the wilderness, you are guaranteed to win stupid prizes.
He is incredibly fortunate that his injuries were not significantly more severe, or even fatal. Consider this your daily public service announcement: Mother Nature does not care about your vacation plans. Keep your distance, respect the wildlife, and stop messing with the bison.
