Dramatic footage shared over the weekend from Yellowstone National Park in the United States shows a bison chasing an older visitor and tossing him about 8 feet into the air.
The incident occurred Friday at the Bridge Bay Campground near Yellowstone Lake in Wyoming. In a video viewed millions of times on social media, the visibly agitated bison is first seen rolling on the ground as an older man and a woman reported to be his granddaughter walk along a nearby trail.
The two appear to stop briefly to photograph the bison from what seems to be a considerable distance before continuing on. The animal then rises and looks in their direction. At the same time, a white pickup truck passes on the road between the visitors and the bison.
The bison initially moves toward the truck, but when the vehicle continues driving, it changes direction and begins chasing the grandfather and granddaughter.
A cluster of trees obscures the first moments of the pursuit. The granddaughter manages to escape, while the grandfather moves around one side of the trees as the bison emerges from the other. The animal then charges again, striking the man with its head and hurling him into the air. He tumbles before landing on his side.
Cowboy State Daily, a local Wyoming news outlet, reported that the man was seriously injured. He survived after other visitors, including the man filming the incident, moved toward the bison and shouted in an effort to distract it.
(Photo: Mike MacLeod)
Their actions drove the animal away before it could attack the man again as he lay on the ground.
The footage was reportedly recorded by professional photographer Mike MacLeod. He said the bison had already been highly agitated before the attack, roaming wildly through the campground and charging at a group of children who were photographing it. The children managed to escape.
MacLeod said visitors at the campground had been warning one another about the danger. However, the grandfather and granddaughter were walking on a trail separate from the campground and were apparently unaware of the threat posed by the bison.
MacLeod said he stopped filming and rushed toward the animal after the man was thrown into the air because he feared the bison would gore him as he lay on the ground.
He said he ran toward the bison, shouted loudly and tried to make himself appear as large and threatening as possible to draw its attention away from the injured man. Other onlookers followed his lead, approaching and shouting until the animal fled.
MacLeod said he later spoke with the victim’s granddaughter, who told him that her grandfather had suffered serious injuries and was not yet out of danger.
He said the man was deeply concerned and wanted to see the footage to make sure he had not caused the attack. MacLeod said the video clearly showed that he was not at fault.
The weekend incident was Yellowstone’s second bison attack this year. A 16-year-old boy was injured in the area last month.
MacLeod stressed that, unlike in some previous incidents, the visitors had not provoked the animal. He said people sometimes behave recklessly around bison and trigger aggressive behavior, but in this case, no one had tried to approach it. Visitors at the campground had instead been warning one another to stay away.
MacLeod said the bison appeared to be looking for a confrontation and was charging at almost everything and everyone around it.
Cowboy State Daily said the behavior was likely linked to the bison mating season, which runs from June through September. During that period, males become particularly energetic and aggressive as they fight for control of the herd and the right to mate with females.