iStockphoto / mickie1
Death, taxes, and old people getting gored by bison during the Summer at Yellowstone National Park because they foolishly get too close and don’t follow the park’s rules. These are the only three certainties in life.
A press release from Yellowstone National Park announced another tourist was gored by a bison. The last bison-on-tourist attack came just a month ago when an allegedly drunk tourist kicked a bison and found out how woefully foolish it is to provoke a 2,000-pound wild animal.
In the latest incident, the park service announced an 83-year-old woman from Greenville, South Carolina was gored by the bison’s horns as it lifted her a foot off the ground using those very same horns.
According to the report, the woman sustained very serious injuries which would seem like it should go without saying. It is hard to imagine a world where a bison gores you with its horns and you are not seriously injured and hospitalized.
After the incident, the woman was taken to a nearby medical clinic and then flown by helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for more serious medical attention. The park service says the incident is still under investigation.
Yellowstone National Park has clear guidance for tourists on how to act around bison in the park. Tourists are supposed to stay at least 25 yards (75 feet) away from any bison as well as all other large animals.
The park says that bison “are not aggressive animals but will defend their space when threatened” and they have accounted for more injured tourists in Yellowstone than any other animal. They also point out that bison can run 3x the speed of humans so that 25-yard minimum should absolutely be respected at all times.
Even with all of the signs and handouts and verbal warnings, tourists still make mistakes every year. This footage from June 2022 shows how quickly bison can move and how an attack/goring can happen in an instant:
Please, please, please be safe out there. Always give wild animals enough space. They are unpredictable and getting too close can not only risk bodily harm to oneself but also injury to the animal who was simply minding its own business.