This fence didn’t stand a chance against a thundering herd of bison stampeding near Grand Teton National Park.
Remember the old “can’t go under it, can’t go over it, can’t go around it” song from your childhood? Well this video below is that personified. Or I guess you could say “bison-ified,” because this herd saw some fencing in their way and decided to burst right through it.
Bison are the largest mammals in North America. Fully grown male bison stand at 6 feet tall (their probably actually 5’11 and are just rounding up) and can weigh around 2,000 pounds at their heaviest, which if you don’t know, is a full ton. That’s a lot of weight to get moving, let alone to get airborne.
Some of the wild beasts did manage to lock in a cleared the fence. I’d even go as far to say that most of the bison in this herd didn’t have a problem getting up and over the structure, and it was a situation where once one of them jumped it, the rest played copycat… as best as they could.
Others in the herd that said, “You know what? I’m just gonna pummel right through this Grand Teton National Park fence,” and that’s exactly what they did. The sturdily built fence was no match for this grouping of wild bison that were stirring up dust as they ran as one. I bet that, with hindsight, someone over at Grand Teton National Park wishes they would have just left that gate open and saved the fence.
An amateur wildlife photographer who goes by the name “Wildlife Will” was there to get the whole thing on camera, and he described the fence-breaking incident as follows:
“I was out with in Wyoming when we came across the Grand Teton herd stuck between a fence and the grounds that they wanted to occupy. They sprinted back and forth along the fence for about 5 minutes before they decided that the fence was their enemy, and that they were going through it. Once 1 or 2 bison made the jump, the rest followed suit.
Some jumped over it, some smashed through it, while others ripped the wire apart and went under it. It was absolutely amazing to see. The only thing crazier than the bison, were the tourists that went and stood along the fence 10 yards away from these wild bison as if they were at a zoo.”
Poetry and power in motion, eh? And no surprise that tourists were willingly endangering themselves… that’s sadly to be expected at this point.
All I’ll say is I would have loved to hear the original audio to this video. I’d imagine the sound of that many bison running and jumping in unison – and absolutely mangling a fence – would have been cool to hear. I’ve heard “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses plenty of times… and it’s not exactly the best choice for this footage anyways.
This song would have been the one to go with actually:
“You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd” by Roger Miller
