By David Williams, CNN

(CNN) — A Montana television reporter’s video of an unexpected animal accounter gave a lesson in social distancing — and in  becoming an immediate internet meme.

Deion Broxton with CNN affiliate KTVM was reporting Wednesday at an entrance to Yellowstone National Park, which had been closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.  He was acting as his own videographer, with his camera on a tripod.

As he counts down to begin his report, he is obviously distracted by something off camera.

The video continues to roll, and he breaks off and addresses the threat.

“Oh my God. Oh my God,” he says. His eyes dart between the camera and the unseen creatures.

Prudence prevails. “Oh no, I ain’t messing with you,” he says as he walks out of the frame. “Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, I am not messing with you.”

Broxton grabs his camera, which is still recording, and throws it in the trunk of his car.

Once he was at a distance, he shot video of the threat that had so unnerved him: a group of bison, and they were huge.

But it was his interrupted news report that delighted the internet. Twitter did its thing, and Broxton was transformed overnight into a meme — personifying people’s reactions to everything from annoying coworkers to shoppers coughing in grocery stores.

Yellowstone National Park tweeted that Broxton reacted appropriately  and thanked him for adhering to the Yellowstone Pledge.

Bison have injured more people at Yellowstone than any other animal, according to park officials.

The-CNN-Wire
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