Yellowstone Tourists See A Baby Bison, Promptly Put It In Their SUV

Man and nature very rarely get along that well. In fact, nature is often at odds with mankind and our need to sprawl out to touch, see, hear, smell and own everything that is within our grasp. That’s not to say that people don’t care about nature — a lot of people do — but on average nature is a nuisance to humanity as it continues to grow and expand into every corner of this planet. The thing is, most of us mean well.

Time tells of a father and son on vacation at Yellowstone National Park who absolutely meant well when they came across a young bison — America’s official mammal — in the wild. The thing is, meaning well doesn’t always equate to doing the right thing. In an age of smartphones, Wikipedia and the world’s knowledge without our reach in just a few swipes, clicks and button presses even the brightest of us will fall victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. When they stumbled upon this bison in the park they saw that it was cold, thought that the bison was in danger and decided to take action. They were told by onlookers that they weren’t supposed to interact with the animals, never mind pick them up and place them in the trunk of an SUV, yet they were steadfast in their mission of saving this baby bison.

They made their way to a ranger station where they demanded to speak with a ranger and felt that they had done a great service by rescuing said bison. The rangers promptly released the bison back where they found it and wrote a ticket to the tourists. The only details that Time gives on the father and son is that they are from “another country,” which could mean a lot of things. At least they meant well?

Now they’ll go back to their home country and tell a tale of heroically saving a young bison, kinda.

(Via Time)