While Yellowstone National Park is famous for it’s amazing wildlife, including gray wolves, bears and bison, it’s also well-known for the scores of badly behaved “tourons” that visit the park.
The word touron combines the words “tourist” and “moron” to describe visitors who act stupidly while on vacation. The Instagram account @touronsofyellowstone is dedicated to documenting these incidents.
In Yellowstone, tourons often forget that wild animals are, in fact, wild, and they ignore that safe distancing guidelines that are distributed in a pamphlet when they enter the park.
According to Yellowstone’s wildlife page, bison have injured more people in the park than even the large predators. Although they can seem docile from a distance, they are unpredictable and can run up to three times faster than a human.
In a public service post on the National Park Service’s official Facebook page said, “If you see bison on the road, be patient and stay in your vehicle. Wait for them to move, and do not honk your horn. . . . Bison do not pose a threat to people unless you get too close. Many bison-related injuries in parks result from people approaching them to take a picture”
The video below, posted to @touronsofyellowstone, shows visitors who exited their cars to take photos of the bison. This was especially dangerous since the incident occured during the bison rut, when the large animals are more aggressive and unpredicatable.
No tourons were harmed, but hopefully the bluff charge was enough to encourage them to be more cautious next time.
Yellowstone bison safety guidelines:
- Give bison at least 25 yards of space when they are near a campsite, trail, boardwalk, parking lot or in a developed area. If need be, turn around and go the other way to avoid interacting with a wild animal in close proximity.
- Approaching bison threatens them, and they may respond by bluff charging, head bobbing, pawing, bellowing or snorting. These are warning signs that you are too close and that a charge is imminent.
- Do not stand your ground. Immediately walk or run away from the animal. Spray bear spray as you are moving away if the animal follows you.
