After learning that the Yellowstone baby bison tourists recently took for a car ride was euthanized, we’re relieved to hear some good bison news this week.
Bullet, a 1,000-pound “housebroken” bison previously up for sale on Craigslist, has found a new place to roam.
Karen Schoeve of Argyle, Texas, posted a listing for Bullet in March, The Dallas Morning News reports. It read “TAME/HOUSEBROKEN BUFFALO COW -- $5,950" and described Bullet as "like a precious gigantic dog."
The idea of an indoor bison caught the Internet’s attention, and the story went viral. But Bullet didn’t really live in the house full-time. She spent most of her time in a paddock with Schoeve’s two ponies, though she’d wander through the house when the opportunity presented itself.
“She was just being curious,” Schoeve told CNN.
But Bullet did have a unique bond with humans, Schoeve told the network -- which is why Schoeve wanted to make sure the bison went to the right home. She purchased Bullet two years ago with the intention of opening an animal education center with her husband. But she took a financial hit when they divorced, and ended up having to keep Bullet on her three-acre property. That's not enough room to keep a bison content.
“The best thing for me is to get everybody a good home, especially Bullet, because she deserves the best,” she told the DMN.
Schoeve wrote in her original listing that she didn't believe Bullet, who was raised by humans and has never lived in the wild, would do well in a situation with no human contact. Bullet seems to be extraordinarily tame and friendly, but experts don’t typically recommend keeping bison as pets.
“Bison tend to make poor pets,” livestock veterinarian Gerald Hauler says on the website of the Alberta Bison Centre. He notes:
They can be tamed but when they are frightened they usually resort to their ‘flight or fight’ response in order to save their skin. They are difficult to tame to a level that I would consider a pet.
Some people have done it with bottle raised bison but even then lots of bison still don't trust people. I know of about 3-4 bison that have been tamed to the point that people can pet them and be around them safely. I also know of a lot of bottle raised bison that are still fearful of humans even after the bottle raising experience.
And don’t even think about trying to approach a wild bison -- doing so can have terrible consequences for both you and the animal. Several tourists in Yellowstone National Park have been injured after trying to take selfies with bison there. And as mentioned earlier, Yellowstone officials had to euthanize a baby bison this week after well-meaning tourists put the animal in their car and the creature was subsequently rejected from its herd. "It was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway," the National Park Service said of the animal.
Schoeve received offers from places like roadside attractions and petting zoos, but she finally found the right match in a landowner in Flower Mound, Texas. There, Bullet will roam in a pasture with two cows, which Bullet has already made friends with.
And the best part? Schoeve -- who said that Bullet ran across her new pasture to say goodbye when she started to leave -- will be able to visit her beloved bison anytime she wants.
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