Author Topic: The BBQ is Getting Away! (Read 6792 times)

41magsnub · « **on:** March 30, 2011, 05:41:16 PM »

Sent to me via email...

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK - The man responsible for snapping these dramatic photographs of a bison being chased by a grizzly bear has surfaced.
Alex Wypyszinski had just dropped off his wife at work and had a few hours to kill one morning last April.
Wypyszinski says he likes to spend his free time in the morning snapping photos of wildlife in the park. Of course, he usually has to search the animals out.

PHOTOS BELOW
It all started when he was driving in the Fountain Flats area, located between the Madison Junction and Old Faithful, when he heard an unusual sound.
But Wypyszinski says any noise is unusual on that particular highway at 7 am. "I thought it was a horse and carriage," said Wypyszinski. "That was the kind of noise that I heard." By the time he turned around, the two fuzzy brown images were racing quickly toward him.

Wypyszinski pulled out his camera quickly, thinking he was going to catch two moose racing down the highway.
He quickly learned he was mistaken. "I thought I was having a hallucination or something," said Wypyszinski. "I couldn't believe what that buffalo looked like."
It was a bison, badly burned from an encounter with one of the numerous hot spots in Yellowstone National Park.

Wypiszinski says once in the safety of the woods the bison out maneuvered the grizzly, escaping to live exactly one more day.
Park rangers had to put the bison down due to the injuries it sustained from the hot springs.
Wypiszinski said the whole event was over just as quickly as it happened.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:44:44 PM »

Lucky the bear didn't realize he was running slower than the bison.

geronimotwo · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:45:12 PM »

that is one mangy looking bison. i like the shot where the bear is levitating!

Fly320s · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:47:55 PM »

Quote from: geronimotwo on March 30, 2011, 05:45:12 PM

that is one mangy looking bison. i like the shot where the bear is levitating!

Not mange. Bear damage.

41magsnub · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:48:23 PM »

Quote from: geronimotwo on March 30, 2011, 05:45:12 PM

that is one mangy looking bison. i like the shot where the bear is levitating!

I missed some text in the pasting, supposedly the bison fell into one of the pools which can be a bit toasty, hence the BBQ title :)

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:49:00 PM »

I think the bison would look pretty mangy after a being precooked in a hot spring.

Poor bear. His dindins got away.

geronimotwo · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:55:09 PM »

sad part is the bison will probably die of infection from the burns anyway.

BlueStarLizzard · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2011, 05:59:08 PM »

Quote from: geronimotwo on March 30, 2011, 05:55:09 PM

sad part is the bison will probably die of infection from the burns anyway.

The rangers already put him down due to his injuries.

seeker_two · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:28:20 PM »

Quote from: bluestarlizzard on March 30, 2011, 05:59:08 PM

The rangers already put him down due to his injuries.

...and wasted a lot of bear kibble....

41magsnub · « **Reply #9 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:30:45 PM »

Quote from: seeker_two on March 30, 2011, 06:28:20 PM

...and wasted a lot of bear kibble....

Think so? My guess is they just left it there after putting it down.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:35:43 PM »

Quote from: bluestarlizzard on March 30, 2011, 05:59:08 PM

The rangers already put him down due to his injuries.

I don't get this.

I think it boils down to our own predatory sense of competition being masked behind false altruism... putting the animal down for it's own good makes no sense.

That bison could feed the wolves, bears, coyotes or mountain lions of Yellowstone quite well. As well as the crows and numerous other secondary carrion feeders that are part of the ecosystem. Raccoons, squirrels, rats, et cetera.

The bear would probably catch that bison inside of 2-3 days anyways. He was looking pretty used-up.

We took the dinner away from the bear, because we COULD. Or perhaps, more appropriately... we proved to ourselves we could bring down the bison where the bear failed. The injury to the animal merely served as an excuse.

I'm not hopping on the envirowacko bandwagon here... I just question the point of going out looking for a wounded bison in a national park full of herds of bison and predators that succeed in partially wounding prey probably every day.

41magsnub · « **Reply #11 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:40:15 PM »

Those are burns, not wounds from the bear. Plus... like I said above in all probability the bear was left where the ranger shot it providing food to all manner of critters including the bear.

AJ Dual · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2011, 06:41:43 PM »

I suppose those are burns, and the rangers could tell after a closer examination after putting it down, but how to tell they're not defensive wounds from fighting off the bear before making a break for it?

The legs kind of look like burns, but the patches on the side and rump look kind of like where the bear got it.

I know bears are opportunistic, so if the bison was just unfortunately burned before the bear encounter, I suppose the smell, any calls of pain or injured gait could have attracted it.

Just so interesting. Makes you want to Colombo the whole situation.

robear · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2011, 07:00:59 PM »

Details aside... amazing pictures.

vaskidmark · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2011, 07:17:18 PM »

This is kind of old news. Seen it and read folks hashing it out (pardon the pun) some time ago.

IIRC the carcass was left where it was shot. Seems once the story got out the Rangers had to "do something" for that "poor beast" to "end its suffering".

stay safe.

Scout26 · « **Reply #15 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:02:36 PM »

If it could out run the bear, it couldn't have been hurt to bad....

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #16 on:** March 30, 2011, 10:09:55 PM »

Quote from: scout26 on March 30, 2011, 10:02:36 PM

If it could out run the bear, it couldn't have been hurt to bad....

Uh, don't they run pretty fast after being fatally shot?

41magsnub · « **Reply #17 on:** March 30, 2011, 11:02:18 PM »

Plus, the burns probably hurt like hell but would not impede movement if the critter were motivated enough to fight through the pain. A freaking grizzly bear chasing you down the road would be pretty good motivation!

Tuco · « **Reply #18 on:** March 30, 2011, 11:17:43 PM »

Can't have a burned up bison running around being all ugly.
It IS a national park after all.

41magsnub · « **Reply #19 on:** March 30, 2011, 11:46:02 PM »

Seriously? People have a problem with putting down a wild animal that is that badly injured? Would you rather it linger for a few weeks until dieing of infection? I'm no veterinarian but that buffalo looks pretty screwed.

What about the injured deer on the side of the road after getting hit by a car? Ever euthanize a pet that is badly injured? Ever put down a horse with a broken leg? Stomp a chick that fell out of the nest and Mom is long gone? Or is it different somehow because man did it? Is it somehow special because it is a natural park and man should not interfere?

Please educate me where there is any controversy here.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2011, 12:09:22 AM »

Why not use stem cell technology to grow skin grafts for the poor thing?

Scout26 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2011, 02:34:02 AM »

Quote from: 41magsnub on March 30, 2011, 11:46:02 PM

Seriously? People have a problem with putting down a wild animal that is that badly injured? Would you rather it linger for a few weeks until dieing of infection? I'm no veterinarian but that buffalo looks pretty screwed.

What about the injured deer on the side of the road after getting hit by a car? Ever euthanize a pet that is badly injured? Ever put down a horse with a broken leg? Stomp a chick that fell out of the nest and Mom is long gone? Or is it different somehow because man did it? Is it somehow special because it is a natural park and man should not interfere?

Please educate me where there is any controversy here.

A deer injured by the side of the road is NOT going to be able to outrun a bear. Or even stand up to be able to move and feed itself. Ending it's suffering is the humane thing to do.

Mr BBQ-on-the-Hoof was looking pretty spry there. Able to move under his own power and I would think that he could also feed himself. Yes, his wounds may have gotten infected, however given the amount of snow on the ground in the pictures, it would seem that he stands a better chance of the wounds healing without infection(s). I'd have given him a 50/50 chance of survival long enough to "fully" recover.

He'd also be a great teacher for all the young buffalo "See sonny, when I was your age, I didn't listen to my pappy and got curious about the smoke on the water......"

280plus · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2011, 08:26:38 AM »

I say we write our congress critters and ask them to introduce legislation to ban hot springs. It's for the bison.

Fly320s · « **Reply #23 on:** March 31, 2011, 08:56:48 AM »

Quote from: 280plus on March 31, 2011, 08:26:38 AM

I say we write our congress critters and ask them to introduce legislation to ban hot springs. It's for the bison.

Idea fail.

Have congress replace the hot springs with lava pits covered with a metal grill. Mmmmm, grilled bison.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #24 on:** March 31, 2011, 08:59:00 AM »

Quote from: Fly320s on March 31, 2011, 08:56:48 AM

Idea fail.

Have congress replace the hot springs with lava pits covered with a metal grill. Mmmmm, grilled bison.

Idea fail.

Have congress buried in lava pits covered with a metal grill. Mmmmm, grilled bison.

News:

Author Topic: The BBQ is Getting Away! (Read 6792 times)