A video shared online is sparking all-too-familiar conversations about wildlife safety in national parks after an onlooker filmed a family allowing their children to get dangerously close to bison at Antelope Island State Park in Utah.
The footage was shared on the touronsofnationalparks page (@touronsofnationalparks) by Instagram user Genevieve Cote (@vgenevieve), who said it happened near a ranger station where safety warnings to keep away from bison are clearly posted. In the video, you can see several children just feet away from massive bison in the road.
"I stopped recording after the girl went back and drove up to the parents to get their kids under a safe distance," the original poster wrote in the caption.
In the video, the bison appear calm, but wildlife experts stress that this is exactly what makes situations like this so dangerous. Bison can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and can charge at speeds up to 35 miles per hour.
Beyond the immediate risk to people, incidents like this can have devastating consequences for wildlife. When animals injure humans — even when provoked — they are often labeled as dangerous and may be relocated or euthanized. That means one poor decision by park visitors can alter or end an animal's life.
Antelope Island officials regularly remind visitors to stay inside their cars when bison are near the road, never approach them on foot, and give wildlife plenty of distance while hiking. As one tip shared in the post's caption said, when a bison stops grazing and begins paying attention to you, it's already a warning sign that you're too close.
These guidelines are meant to protect both people and animals, but videos showing people getting too close to bison or even people feeding wild bears show that those rules are too often ignored.
Wildlife doesn't need to be touched, approached, or posed with to be appreciated. The most respectful thing park visitors and nature enthusiasts can do is keep their distance and let nature remain wild.
The comment section quickly filled with reactions. "Really wish common sense was used around these beautiful Bison or any wild animal," one commenter wrote. Another added: "That's definitely child endangerment."
Others focused on the consequences for the bison themselves. "This makes it so difficult for the wild animals to even have a life because if they attack them, they're gonna put them down." another commenter wrote.
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