Watch: Bison Hurls Man 8 Feet High in Yellowstone Campground

Big animals, like bison, bears, and moose, are dangerous. It seems every year, we hear reports of some knucklehead trying to get in close for a selfie with a big creature and getting banged up or worse; to a certain degree, those of us with a little more experience around big critters, wild and domestic, feel a certain satisfaction in seeing these aggressively ignorant goofballs learn about this the hard way.

Sometimes, though, a human gets banged up even when they did nothing wrong, but just because the big critter in question was having a bad day and didn't like the notion of a human being within eyesight. That appears to be what happened to a tourist in Yellowstone National Park on Friday, who had been walking past a bull bison from what appeared to be a safe distance when the beast decided to make him a target.

A man was seriously injured Friday evening after being thrown 8 feet into the air by an angry bull bison in Yellowstone National Park.
Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from Bozeman, Montana, said the incident happened at the Bridge Bay Campground, south of Fishing Bridge.
MacLeod said the man was walking with his grandson when the agitated bison made them the targets of its aggression.
“I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening.”
The National Park Service has not released any information on the incident.

Here, watch:

Now, speaking as a guy with an undergraduate degree in biology with emphasis on behavior and field zoology, I'll venture some speculation here.

First, the breeding season can make bull bison very aggressive. It's a tad early for the breeding season, but only just; the season usually runs from mid-July to late August, but there aren't many hard lines in biology, and a mature bull like this one can start the testosterone jam a little early some years. And this bull is fired up; all of his body language states that very plainly. His tail is up, his head high, and he's seeking targets for his aggressiveness. The humans in the area, the older gentleman in particular, appear to have done nothing imprudent; they weren't too close, they weren't doing anything dumb, but a big bull bison like that can cover a lot of ground very fast when they want to, and that looks like what happened here.

Yellowstone Tourist Provides Object Lesson: Leave Big Critters Alone

No, he didn't do anything wrong; nor did the campers who were in the area:

MacLeod was camping in at the Bridge Bay Campground when his wife pointed out the bull bison entering the area. He grabbed his camera and started shooting from a safe distance.
“He started walking through the campground,” MacLeod said. “He was coming up to this group of kids, who were taking pictures on their cellphones from a good distance away, and then the buffalo charged these kids.”
When the bison charged, the kids safely scattered. But the bison wasn’t done yet.

That's when the older gentleman entered the picture, and for reasons that are known only to that bison, became the target.

After expending some of its energy on a sapling, the bison tore into the trees and chased the victim and his grandson.
While the grandson escaped, his grandfather wasn’t so fortunate. The bison chased him around the trees while he tried to escape.
Then, according to MacLeod, the victim got flipped.
“The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air,” he said. “He made a perfect flip and landed on his side. The bison was at least 6 feet tall, and (the victim) was several feet above him.”

The bison did then, after a few moments, leave the area.

The victim's grandson later indicated that his grandfather had some significant injuries, although no details were forthcoming.

This is a heck of a reminder: Big animals can be dangerous to humans, who are, in comparison, pretty soft and squishy. One doesn't have to deliberately aggravate them; sometimes they are just already aggravated. And, of course, our increasingly urbanized population means that more and more people have only limited experience around wildlife of any sort, not to mention a fully grown bull bison that may weigh close to a ton, and which has a temper short enough to limbo dance under a door.

The name of the beast's target and the extent of his injuries are at present not known. Let's hope for the best. And if you're vacationing anywhere in the Great Outdoors this summer, where there are big beasts, keep a sharp eye out.

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