YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (ABC4) – One man was taken to the hospital after he and his family were nearly gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park Monday.
Video footage from parkgoer Rob Goodell shows the family extremely close to the bison near Giant Geyser at Old Faithful before he charges at them.
One person in the group, a 34-year-old Colorado man was gored and sustained an arm injury, National Park officials say.
He was taken to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center by ambulance.
Video courtesy of Rob Goodell
The video shows what appears to be a family of four or five people, including a kid who was saved from being gored by the bison and shows them running out of the way in an effort to escape.
Goodell says prior to recording the video, he had been following the bison for a while. He watched the situation unfold and says the guy in the hat in the video approached the bison and got too close.
According to Goodell, the guy who was pummeled was the first to get the bison riled up. The bison then went after the older couple because the kid ran toward them.
According to Jeremy Shaw, a Park Manager at Utah’s Antelope Island, people normally get too close to bison. “They always want to get closer and closer for photos. But ultimately, any time there is a dangerous interaction with wildlife, it’s because the person got too close.”
This is the second reported incident in 2022 of a visitor getting too close to the animal and the bison responding to the perceived threat by goring the individual.
The incident remains under investigation.