After jumping and thrashing around for a moment trying to free himself, the bull bison lay down in the water and died. The incident occurred on Saturday, June 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like seeing the circle of life unfold in the most raw way possible,\u201d a visitor named Katie Hirtzel told Outside.\u00a0\u201cIt was unexpected, haunting, and powerful to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hirtzel was completing a daylong hike in Yellowstone with her husband and 13-year-old son when they descended a hillside and walked toward the Grand Prismatic Spring. Just before they reached the hot pool, they saw the footprints of bears and bison in the mud near it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started talking about how amazing it is that these animals know how to navigate this crazy landscape,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As they came closer to the pool, they saw a large mass of hair protruding from the water. Hirtzel originally thought it was a dead bear, but as she got closer, she could see the horns and hoofs of a bison.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Bison3.jpg\")
Katie Hirtzel\u2019s photo of the deceased bison<\/p>\n
Hirtzel said she arrived shortly after the animal had died. She and her family snapped photos of the scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t gross or yucky,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was mist in the air. It was an eerie sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hirtzel posted her images to a Facebook group called Yellowstone Through the Lens<\/a>. Another visitor, Louise Howard, posted photos of the bison\u2019s last fateful moments.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took a few steps into a shallow area to the right of the pool, turned around, and stepped out very quickly,\u201d Howard wrote on Facebook. \u201cIt stood for a moment, then turned back towards the spring and stepped into a deeper section, then couldn\u2019t get out despite trying its best.\u201d<\/p>\n When photos and videos of the incident were posted to Facebook, Internet denizens took a range of stances. Some commenters suggested that posting the footage was disrespectful to the animal. Others were more positive. \u201cI bet that was sad to watch,\u201d wrote one. \u201cBut I appreciate your pictures. It\u2019s nature, and even though I\u2019m a huge animal lover, I like to see the good and the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear exactly why the bison stepped into Grand Prismatic, which is the largest hot spring in the United States and the third-largest in the world.<\/p>\n Observers noted online that it first stepped, briefly, into a shallower area of the pool, and then stepped out again.<\/p>\n While incidents like this are rare, they aren\u2019t exactly anomalies. \u201cThere are occasional reports from observers of wildlife dying in hot springs,\u201d Mike Poland, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory\u2019s scientist-in-charge, told The Sacramento Bee.<\/a> Poland added that although there is no clear record of how many incidents occur per year, \u201cIt\u2019s not at all unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The hot springs and geysers at Yellowstone don\u2019t just present a hazard for wildlife, but for humans, too. In fact, the park\u2019s hot springs kill more people than bears, and even bison<\/a>. And that\u2019s saying something, since bison goring has become a semi-annual occurrence<\/a>.<\/p>\n