First, I am NOT defending this guy’s actions. He violated a law in umpteen western states, and a felony charge can be brought in most all western states for what he has done.
That said, people who have never been around bison need to understand that they’re not simply “bigger cows.” Bison are not cows - not even remotely. Bison are a force of nature. Individually, they’re like a tornado. In a herd, they’re like a hurricane.
I’ve seen bison push their way through Powder River gates (a brand of very high quality steel panels, gates, cattle handling equipment, etc). I don’t mean that they ran into them and knocked the gate over. I’m talking that the bison walked up to the locked gate, put his head down and pushed his way through. The bars on the gate simply spread like bars of butter and he simply pushed through.
Why did he do this? He wasn’t mean. He simply wanted to be on the other side. Calm as a sunday school teacher.
On the other side, he proceeded to push over small (6” diameter” pine trees as he used them as back scratchers. Bison are simply destructive. You’ve heard the old saying about “bull in a china shop?”
Bulls are pussycats next to bison. And the whole world is a china shop for bison.
They’re not cattle. A “legal” fence, per the code in western states, won’t hold bison. In Jiggs, NV there used to be a smaller ranch where someone was running bison. They used 4” gas field casing pipe (3/8” wall steel pipe, 4” diameter) sunk 10’ into the ground, and then they mounted galvanized steel guardrail on these pipes. The fence was six feet high.
That held them.