Last week, a bison suffered a horrifying death after falling into a boiling hot spring at Yellowstone National Park — while stunned tourists looked on helplessly.
The tragic incident unfolded when a bison wandered into the Midway Geyser Basin near the iconic Old Faithful and accidentally stepped into scalding water, as confirmed by the National Park Service.
"There were two bison standing there." said Louise Howard, who witnessed the heartbreaking event during her very first visit to Yellowstone, speaking to CBS News.
The bison struggles to escape the boiling water.
"I thought it was a great photo opportunity."
But what seemed like a memorable photo op took a devastating turn when one of the massive animals stepped too far and tried to hop back to safety.
Just seconds later, the bison started to stumble at the edge of the Grand Prismatic Spring known as the park’s largest and most colorful hot spring before slipping and falling right in.
"As hard as it tried, it couldn't get out." said Howard, who managed to capture the bison’s final moments on camera.
Luckily, according to Michael Poland, the scientist leading the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, the animal's suffering didn’t last long and it passed away "fairly quickly."
The animal died “fairy quickly,” according to an expert
The bison was thrashing so violently in the water that it ended up drifting into an even hotter part of the Grand Prismatic, which sped up the fatal process.
Michael Poland also cleared up any confusion by saying it wasn’t the water’s acidity that caused the animal’s death. Instead, he said it was the extremely high temperature of the spring.
The beast fell into the Grand Prismatic Spring, where temperatures are around 192 degrees.
Temperatures in the Grand Prismatic can reach a blistering 192 degrees Fahrenheit.
Due to the park’s high elevation, the boiling point at Yellowstone hovers around 200 degrees Fahrenheit — which is higher than at sea level.
The beast fell into the Grand Prismatic Spring, where temperatures are around 192 degrees.
"This bison carcass is basically sitting in a pool of nearly boiling water, and … that boiling water will eat away at the organic material, the tissues, and eventually there will just be some bone." Poland explained.
Unfortunately, incidents like this aren’t rare. Yellowstone has seen many animals lose their lives after falling into hot springs scattered throughout the park.
The tragedy comes after two tourists were separately gored by bison in as many months.
One of these springs, called the Lower Geyser, gets up to 197 degrees and has even earned the informal nickname “Skeleton Pool” because of the number of animal remains found there.
Bison and other wildlife often walk near the edges of these springs, but their heavy bodies can easily break through the fragile ground crust that surrounds the pools.
This particular tragedy happened while Yellowstone was buzzing with summer visitors, many of whom come to see the famous Old Faithful geyser in action.
In addition to the bison incident, there were two separate events recently where tourists were gored by buffalo. Both occurred just a few months apart and close to the Old Faithful area.
In each case, the men involved were injured after getting too close to the bison, forgetting that these large creatures, while calm-looking, are still wild and very dangerous. Thankfully, both men walked away with only minor injuries.