Baby bison dead after tourists put it in their car because they thought it looked cold

A bison calf that tourists loaded into their vehicle at Yellowstone National Park because they thought it looked cold could not be reunited with its herd and had to be euthanised, park officials said as they reasserted the importance of avoiding wildlife.

The incident last week and several other recent cases led to fresh warnings that park rules require visitors to stay at least 22 metres from all wildlife and 90 metres from bears and wolves.

The weather at Yellowstone on May 9 was fairly temperate: The low was 4 degrees Celsius; the high was about 10 degrees.

Nevertheless, when the two tourists saw the baby bison, they decided it looked cold and needed to be rescued. So they loaded it in the trunk of their car and drove it to a ranger station.

Idaho resident Karen Richardson, who was chaperoning a fifth-grade field trip to Yellowstone, told the website that the father and son pair were “demanding to speak with a ranger.”

“They were seriously worried that the calf was freezing and dying,” she said.