Timber Ridge Bison

(NEWS RELEASE) A 12-year-old visitor was injured by a bison in Yellowstone National Park on June 26 at approximately 9:15 a.m.

The incident occurred near Mud Volcano, just north of Fishing Bridge. The visitor sustained injuries, and emergency medical personnel transported them to a nearby hospital. The incident remains under investigation.

Remember, animals in Yellowstone are wild and can be dangerous.

Wild animals can be aggressive when people do not respect their space. Visitors are responsible for staying at least 25 yards away from all large animals, including bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes, and at least 100 yards away from bears, wolves and cougars.

If wildlife approach you, move away to maintain the required distance. Never approach, touch, feed or crowd wildlife, even if an animal appears calm.

Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal. They are unpredictable, can run three times faster than humans and will defend their space when threatened.

🦬 Long before the Wi******er became the rifle of legend, the weapon that truly reshaped the plains was the Sharps. The heavy single-shot model that hunters called the Big Fifty could drop a buffalo at distances of several hundred yards, far beyond the reach of most other guns of its day.

That range made it the favorite tool of the professional buffalo hunters who swept across the Great Plains in the 1870s. A skilled marksman could sit at a stand and bring down dozens of animals in a single day without the herd ever scattering. The crack of the Big Fifty became the sound of an entire ecosystem disappearing. 💥

The consequences went far beyond the hunt. As the great bison herds vanished, so did the foundation of life for the Plains nations who depended on them, a collapse that some in the army openly encouraged as a way to force surrender. A single rifle sat at the center of one of the most dramatic upheavals in American history.

It is strange to hold a tool so beautifully made and know what it was used to destroy. Should we remember a gun like this for its craftsmanship, or for its consequences?