It’s unfair to assume that every victim of a wildlife attack in a national park is a “touron.” Sometimes, people are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is basically the argument of Mike MacLeod, the photographer who captured the moment a wild bison flung a man eight feet into the air at Bridge Bay Campground in Yellowstone National Park. MacLeod says the 65-year-man was following park recommendations while observing the bison, but he couldn’t get away when the animal charged at him.
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McDaniel and his 13-year-old grandson were about 100 yards from the animal, which witnesses say was rolling around in the dirt and not acting aggressively. The pair took photos and then began to walk away. According to McDaniel’s report to CNN, that’s when a vehicle passed nearby and honked at the bison, aggravating it. The bison charged at McDaniel and his grandson, ramming into McDaniel without goring him.
[RELATED: Bison Charges and Kills Hiker in South Dakota’s Custer State Park]
MacLeod stopped filming and ran over to try to scare the bison away before it hurt McDaniel even more. It worked. The bison left. McDaniel was hospitalized with a broken femur and is expected to recover.
Photographer Defends Victim: ‘He Did Do the Smart Thing’
“This is the original footage of the recent bison attack in Yellowstone National Park as it was shot in slow motion (120 fps),” MacLeod wrote in his Facebook post sharing the video. “Although the victim, 65-year-old Carl McDaniel of Washington State, followed the park recommendations to not approach wildlife and did little to provoke the attack, he did do the smart thing when he hit the ground, which is to stay motionless to avoid further attack. As the bison chased him, his main concern was to lure the giant animal away from his grandson, who was hiding nearby as his grandfather had instructed. In that regard, Carl’s actions were a great success.”
Watch the footage from the bison attack at Yellowstone below (or see it here).
Here’s a second video from MacLeod:
Header stock image by Layne Kennedy/Getty Images
