Event: Yellowstone Bison Calf Is Euthanized After Riding in Tourists’ S.U.V.

A bison calf runs at Yellowstone National Park. Officials are warning people to stay away from the animals after visitors placed a calf (not the one shown here) inside their vehicle. The animal was later euthanized. Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

At Yellowstone National Park, officials are used to issuing warnings to the public each time a visitor is injured by a bison. The animals hurt more tourists than any other animal at the park.

But this time, it was a newborn bison calf that suffered.

On Monday, officials said that the calf had been euthanized a week after visitors picked the animal up and put it in the back of an S.U.V. The calf was killed because it was later rejected by its herd and appeared to have been habituated to humans, Morgan Warthin of the National Park Service wrotein a statement.

“The bison calf was later euthanized because it was abandoned and causing a dangerous situation by continually approaching people and cars along the roadway,” Ms. Warthin wrote.

On Sunday, Karen Richardson, a resident of Victor, Idaho, told NBC Montana that two tourists had taken the calf to a ranger station because they thought the animal was cold. Ms. Richardson, who was nearby, took a photo of the animal as it stood in the back of a vehicle. The tourists were later cited for transporting the calf, officials said.