Visitors to Yellowstone National Park were shocked when they saw what appeared to be a dog with a collar running loose in the area—only to realize it was a large black wolf.
Marcela, a national parks landscape and wildlife photographer who runs photo studio Ruby Hour Photo Art, captured the incredible moment in September 2024..
She shared the video to her Instagram account, @rubyhourphotoart on May 3, explaining she was reposting it as “a cautionary tale about driving carefully in Yellowstone.”
“Many thought this was someone’s dog because it has a collar. Certainly not a dog—this is a black wolf in Yellowstone‘s Hayden Valley.”
The video shows vehicles parked up on both sides of the road as a large black wolf—wearing a bright yellow collar—lopes across the grass before crossing the road.
But just as the wolf gets on the tarmac, a car, going at decent speed, arrives in shot, and slows down just in time to allow the wolf to continue crossing.
Marcela, who gave her first name only, told Newsweek: “Just as the wolf was about to cross, a car towing a trailer came from around a slight curve, breaking just in time for the wolf to safely cross.
A wolf wearing a collar crosses the road i Yellowstone National Park, narrowly avoiding a car.
Instagram @rubyhourphotoart
“Close calls or incidents are frequent enough in Tetons and Yellowstone, where I most photograph at, but also at other national parks,” she said. “It pays to pay attention, especially during those seasons when animals are moving across the parks or have new babies.”
The Yellowstone Wolf Project is a detailed study of wolves in the national park, including the animals’ population, predator-prey interactions and social behavior. Researchers place collars with very high frequency (VHF) radio and GPS on wolves in the area, to track and study the animals, according to Yellowstone.org.
Marcela warned: “If you see one animal cross, always slow down and wait some—often a little one, or several, follow the mom soon after! This is especially true for grizzlies, black bears, elk, deer, moose and other park animals.”
The wolf, which Marcela says many believed was a dog initially, safely crosses to the other side.
Instagram @rubyhourphotoart
Instagram users were in awe at the video, awarding it more than 122,700 likes, as many worried about the safety of the animals due to vehicles on the roads.
“Dude speeding through with five cars pulled over,” one complained, as another asked: “Who doesn’t slow down in the park when people are obviously watching game?”
Another wrote sarcastically: “If there’s 10 cars all parked on the side of the road, use two seconds of critical thinking to assess that maybe there’s a wild animal!”
And as one put it: “Apparently Yellowstone needs to install speed bumps.”
Marcela told Newsweek it’s “always an incredible experience to observe wildlife in their own habitat,” stressing the importance of going so from an “appropriate distance, and treating them with respect.”
“After all, it’s us who are the guests in their environment.”
“I understand people get really excited and want to get close,” she acknowledged. “Yellowstone in particular is notorious for that—but it’s worth remembering you’re putting both yourself and the animal in danger too with inattentive driving or getting too close.”
As of 2024, there were at least 108 wolves in Yellowstone National Park, according to the National Park Service, after the animals were reintroduced to the park in 1995.
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