Another Act Of Idiocy On Antelope Island
Yesterday, while showing some out-of-town friends around Antelope Island, we came upon this cyclist who had left his bike on the road and walked up to within a few feet of this bison in order to photograph it. At first he was much closer to the animal than you see here but when the bison began to show signs of irritation the cyclist backed off a few feet and continued to take photos. I stopped my vehicle and grabbed my “other” camera because I figured that something unpleasant might go down but in the excitement I bumped the control wheel on the camera and skewed my settings so the resulting photos are of poor quality and for documentation only. I’ve disguised the face of the cyclist. Before I could get off any shots of the cyclist photographing the bison the massive animal charged. This guys reactions were pretty quick. Here the cyclist doesn’t yet know that the bison’s charge was apparently a bluff… but he does now. This guy didn’t even have a vehicle to run to for protection – only his bike. And incredibly, after the charge, he turned around and approached the bison again. This kind of stupidity puts both humans and animals at risk. If the cyclist had been killed or injured I suspect the bison would have been destroyed. Similar unthinking behaviors from island visitors occur regularly on the island as I’ve documented before. The “Darwin Awards” in action… Ron