Yellowstone’s bison warning for tourists as man thrown in air by animal
Dramatic footage captured the moment an enraged bull bison tossed a tourist around 8 feet into the air at a campground in Yellowstone National Park.
The video, taken by professional photographer Mike MacLeod, was filmed at the Bridge Bay Campground, south of Fishing Bridge. The large animal can be seen rolling around on the ground as a grandfather and grandson stop to watch from a distance.
The pair begin filming the animal on their phones before moving away, at which point the bison seemingly gets worked up by a passing vehicle, and charges at the pair. The two run and hide behind a cluster of trees in an attempt to evade the animal, but it catches up to the grandfather and throws him several feet in the air.
MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily this latest attack stood out because, unlike many previous incidents in which visitors approached wildlife too closely, he believed those involved had behaved responsibly.
“I didn’t see anybody getting close,” MacLeod said. “People were yelling, ‘Careful, there’s a bison coming through,’ and they kept their distance. They were very respectful.”
He added: “You can tell he was agitated, p***** off and charging anything and everything.”
“The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air,” MacLeod 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.”
“I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit,” he said. “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.”
MacLeod said he was afraid that the bison would gore the man on the ground, so ran up to the animal and “yelled loud” and tried to be as “big and intimidating as possible,” along with a few onlookers, at which point the bison ran off.
The man lay injured on the ground, where the photographer said he appeared to be in a lot of pain in his hips and the leg he landed on. Emergency services were called.
MacLeod said the grandson told him that his grandfather “has some pretty significant injuries and is not out of the woods yet.”
The National Park Service has not yet released details about the incident. Newsweek has reached out to the service via a contact form on its website and is awaiting a response.
Yellowstone’s Safety Warning
Yellowstone warns visitors that bison are wild animals and are responsible for injuring more people in the park than any other species.
They can run three times faster than humans, making it important to maintain a safe distance of at least 25 yards away.
If a bison exhibits warning signs of a charge, including bluff charging, head bobbing while staring at you, pawing, bellowing, or raising its tail, you should immediately move away from the animal.
If the animal follows you, spray bear spray and seek cover behind nearby cars or trees.
Drivers should also be careful when passing bison, adhering to the park’s 45 mph speed limit and not honking the horn or driving aggressively towards them.
Recent Bison Attacks
This incident is the second reported bison-on-human encounter in Yellowstone this year.
On June 26, a 12-year-old visitor was injured by a bison near Mud Volcano and taken to hospital.
Park officials have also reported several bison-related incidents in previous years, including two in 2025, two in 2024 and one in 2023.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and James Debens
