A Wyoming news station has shared footage showing a bison partially breaking through a boardwalk in Yellowstone National Park.
The footage was captured last year by Adam Nigels, but it has recirculated via social media.
K2 Radio used the footage to illustrate the colossal nature of bison, which can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. (Watch the video below.)
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Nigels wrote in the video description: “The Yellowstone bison can be very dangerous up close. However, in this moment, they were simply trying to cross the boardwalk and wanted nothing to do with the surrounding people.”
The footage is also reminiscent of a scene that played out last year, involving a bison that had placed its massive head on a boardwalk and used it as a chin scratcher.
Images captured by Ken Carleton showed the bison surrounded by tourists who gathered to witness the spectacle. Their proximity to the gargantuan animal drew the ire of park staff, which described the situation as “unsafe.”
To be sure, while boardwalks are designed to protect visitors from thermal features (and the features themselves), they do not keep people safe from large animals.
In fact, last June a man was gored while walking with his family on a boardwalk.
A few weeks earlier, a woman was gored and tossed 10 feet into the air after she approached a bison near a boardwalk.
Both incidents occurred near Old Faithful.
So while walking on boardwalks is enjoyable and might seem safe, it’s only safe if people follow the park-wide 25-yard distance rule.
