by American Hunter Staff - Friday, June 3, 2016
Once upon a time, folks would visit places like Yellowstone National Park to experience the great outdoors and see some of the native wildlife that it's famous for. Maybe they'd bring a camera and take a few photos, so they could show their friends and family when later reminiscing about the trip.
Now, though, as many of our readers know, every photo has to be a "Selfie." If you're not taking a picture of yourself, you're not trying—at least that's how it seems. And selfies know no bounds—the more dangerous or irresponsible the behavior being exhibited, the better. Last year, a study found that the practice killed more people than shark attacks. So, as you might imagine, every year people make the mistake of turning their back on a living, breathing, wild animal in the name of a good selfie. And they pay the price. Last year in Yellowstone, a woman was tackled by a bison. In China, a guy was actually killed by a walrus while trying to get a photo. So it should come as no surprise that, earlier this week, another Yellowstone visitor had a way-too-close encounter when she tried to take a photo with a cow elk.
The video, which is embedded above, shows a female guest getting a little too close for comfort in her quest to take a photo of a cow elk. The cow allegedly had a young calf nearby, which almost assuredly prompted her aggressive behavior. Fortunately, she wasn't harmed. Hopefully she learned her lesson. There's a reason Yellowstone has limits on how close you can get to wildlife. It's 25 yards for elk, bison and similar creatures, and 100 yards for predators likes bears and wolves. Still, given that a cow elk can go about 500 pounds, on average, they're still absolutely capable of being "dangerous" to a human-sized creature if you give them reason to be. And getting too close to an animal's offspring is often a very good reason.
Check out the action for yourself by watching the video embedded above or by clicking here.
