- A bison attacked a tourist at Yellowstone on July 10, launching him.
- Photographer Mike MacLeod captured the incident on video at Bridge Bay Campground.
- The victim, suffering broken leg bones, is stable and expected to recover.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A man was launched into the air by an angry bull bison at Yellowstone National Park over the weekend, and the terrifying encounter was caught on camera.
Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer in Bozeman, Montana, who witnessed the incident, told EastIdahoNews.com it happened July 10 at the Bridge Bay Campground just off of Yellowstone Lake on the west side. It's a campground MacLeod said he and his wife have stayed at quite a bit over the years. He said there are signs warning of wildlife, but it's usually not a problem.
"In fact, my wife said, 'I don't think we've ever seen a bison here,'" MacLeod recalled. "We pulled into our campsite and were getting things ready, and my wife said, 'Hey look, there's a bison coming into the campground. How funny is that?'"
MacLeod grabbed his camera and started taking still pictures of the approaching big bull. MacLeod said the animal was walking toward a tent that had what he said looked like teenage boys standing near it in a line. They had their phones out taking pictures of the bison.
He estimated the animal was within 50 to 100 feet from the tent when the bison charged at the boys.
"I'd never seen anything like that," he said. "They weren't that close to the bison. He was clearly coming into their camp and then instigating this. … The boys scattered fast so the bison ran past their tent."
The bison then ran through the campground, and MacLeod said people were yelling to try and warn others that a bison was coming.
"Everyone stayed out of the way," he explained. "Then the bison circled around and stopped at this young Asian couple's campsite. It looked like they were cooking dinner. They abandoned their campsite, and the bull started rolling around in the dust by their picnic table."
At this point, instead of taking still pictures, MacLeod decided to start filming.
"I've got some pretty good video clips of him getting up and kicking like a bucking horse," he said. "He was definitely very agitated."
MacLeod said the bison then sat in the dust and sat there looking. That's when MacLeod caught the victim and his grandson walk into the frame of his video.
"They are well away from the scene. There were a lot of people on my side that were a lot closer to the bull and around him," MacLeod mentioned. "But for whatever reason, the bull keyed in on them."
MacLeod said it's hard to tell from his video, but as soon as the bison stood up, the grandfather motioned to his grandson to leave. Footage then shows a white truck, which he believes was driven by someone who helps run the campsite, go past the animal.
"The bull charged. When you look at the video, it looks like he's charging the truck. The truck kept going because the driver saw the bull," MacLeod said. "The bull was clearly interested in those two people (the grandfather and grandson). They had moved off behind the pine trees."
The bull turned to the right and chased the grandfather and grandson around the trees. He doesn't know where the grandson went, but MacLeod watched the grandfather try to keep the trees between him and the bison.
"He ran around, and the bison tore up some stout saplings and came back around again and caught the grandfather and hooked him with his left horn and tossed him up in the air," MacLeod, who estimated he was tossed 8 to 10 feet in the air, he said. "Once the grandfather hit the ground, you can see the bull is pumping his head really agitated and looks like he wants more of something."
MacLeod, who has training as a wildlife biologist and understands wildlife and body language, stopped videoing because he knew he needed to distract the bull so the animal didn't stomp on the grandfather.
"I ran at it yelling and screaming at the top of my lungs and trying to make myself look big, waving my arms up and down, and then some other men joined me," he said. "The bull then decided to take off and leave."
When they got to the victim, MacLeod said he was conscious and talking. People rushed in to help check for obvious injuries, blood (MacLeod said the victim was bleeding a little but not a lot) and one man stood watch to make sure the bison didn't return.
MacLeod said medical help arrived quickly. He has since been in touch with the grandfather's family. He was told among the victim's injuries were some broken bones in his leg. Last he heard, the victim was stable in the hospital and was supposed to go into surgery Sunday. He was also told that doctors said he is expected to make a full recovery, although it will be lengthy.
"They absolutely weren't doing anything wrong. … They were doing everything right," MacLeod stated. "It's just bad luck. Wildlife is dangerous. The park says it all the time, and it's true."
