I raised a piglet on a bottle and several calves too. It’s not that difficult.
You make a good point. I believe that the rangers were just typical government employees who felt it was a nuisance to have a young animal in trouble brought to them. To try and make sure that it didn't happen again they fined and berated the good Samaritans. When they got called on it they came up with a bunch of explanations to justify what they did. Some of their explanations are being parroted here by people who have never had any experience raising cattle.
I grew up with cows and horses and other farm animals; I am sure that many others here did as well. The most interesting thing to me is the reaction here from people in this thread who actually have experience with cattle and those who don't. It seems very unlikely to me that the rangers who killed the poor thing had any experience raising cattle. They were just typical government employees and didn't want to bother finding someone who could have taken care of the calf for a month or so until it could have been reunited with the herd.
My parents still have a herd of beef cattle. Calves get separated from the rest of the herd fairly frequently and have difficulties. Most frequently the calves that have difficulties are from young cows that for whatever reason are just bad mothers the first time they have a calf. If the calves do not get milk for a couple of days they are a mess. That is why the feed store sells formula for calves. After a little intervention most frequently everything turns out fine.
There are differences between bison and cattle but both have been successfully domesticated and their behaviors are in general very similar. People often cross breed for various reasons. Bison typically sell for higher prices than most types of cattle. But cattle have their advantages, as far as I am concerned beef tastes better. And cow hide is actually a better and more durable product than buffalo hide.
I read a story someplace about a woman who put her pet buffalo up for sale. It was a house pet and there were pictures of the animal inside her house. I would like to have a pet buffalo but I don’t want it in my house.