No, Bison Aren’t Leaving Yellowstone Because of the Super-volcano
If I had a nickel for every conspiracy theorist that has said bison are leaving Yellowstone National Park because the super-volcano is about to erupt, I'd be a rich man. Let's deal with this theory with a crazy thing called "facts".
I've seen multiple videos in the past week and they're all inferring the same thing. Bison are running from the park because Yellowstone is about to blow.
That's not the only one. The parade of alarmists continue.
Let's now begin to answer these questions and concerns with facts. Could Yellowstone erupt any day now? Yes, it's possible. Is is likely? No freaking way. The USGS has to deal with these conspiracy theories constantly. As a matter of fact, they have a public event on November 18 where they'll deal with myths and misconceptions about the huge volcano under Yellowstone.
I've spoken with the scientist in charge of Yellowstone myself. His name is Mike Poland and I asked him directly what would need to happen for him to be concerned that Yellowstone was about to erupt. I'll summarize with 2 key things he said we should watch for:
1. Instead of hundreds of quakes near Yellowstone in a month, we'd start to see thousands.
2. There would be uplift in virtually every part of the park and not just one area.
Are we seeing either of those things? FACT: No, we are not. If you're thinking "oh, you're just saying what the government is telling you to say". Nope, not that one either. I'll share the words of some of the conspiracy theorists as proof that there's no NEW concern. This was shared 8 months ago.
This debunk had to be done 7 YEARS AGO.
Are bison on the move? Yes, it's called migration and it happens every single year because bison are migratory animals. Again, FACTS.
Why is it important to debunk these unfounded theories? Because someday I do believe that Yellowstone WILL erupt. If we see signs that it really might imminently happen, I'd like to think the warnings would be taken seriously. The problem is people constantly hearing these theories makes them less likely to pay attention to it in the future.
Do I think the government hides things from its people? Yes, I do. Do I think they're telling us everything they know about Yellowstone? All I can say is that the USGS has never failed to answer questions when we've asked. Do I think it's likely we'll see this event in our lifetime? I really hope not.
However, it is the one potentially cataclysmic event that we need to know CAN happen. Let's just don't hit the panic button until there are FACTS that say we need to.