Yellowstone Bison Attack: Tourists Charged, Flipped In Air (VIDEO)

Travel nightmare: getting tossed in the air by a bison. It happened to some poor Utah woman who was visiting Yellowstone National Park, according to the Associated Press.

The unidentified 49-year old was with her family at Old Faithful when a bison ran at her and a 61-year old man who was uninjured.

As if this wasn't bad enough, this is already the SECOND time this summer that a bison (which can weigh up to a whopping 2,000 pounds) has charged at and injured a park visitor.

Summer bummer.

WATCH the survivors talk:

Comments

[BACKWARDS1]

06:41 PM on 07/28/2010

The video is very missleading if you slow it down you can see a stick come from the diection of the husband and hit the buffalo in the hind quarters while he is eating. That's what set the buffalo off. So the "poor woman" is not a victim of the buffalo, she's a victim of being married to an ignorant man.

[casssax]

10:31 AM on 07/26/2010

Two words..Zoom Lens! Then you don't have to get so close. Duh!

[sanfran55]

10:04 PM on 07/25/2010

Since they have pretty much elimated the predators at the park, the number of bison have increased tremendously...huge herds that can block traffic; it's crazy. When we first arrived in Yellowstone, we saw a bison quite a ways away, grazing, behind a rickety 4 foot fence by the road.
We pulled over and I got out of the car and started to film. The bison looked up and started to walk towards me. I stopped the camera, and it was still walking towards me - so I got in the car.
This huge animal starts to jog, and in a flash jumps the fence and runs across the road. I couldn't believe how quickly the animal moved and that it could jump the fence! I can see how people can be fooled because of their size and they appear that they only move slowly - but you're really dealing with an animal that is more like a bull. I mean really, would you approach a bull closely?
These wild animals are unpredictable and it's really not worth the photo. Moose have a nasty temperment, too - stay away!

[Jacqueline R]

07:59 PM on 07/25/2010

I see a wild buffalo, oooh let's get closer. It is common sense to treat wild animals as wild animals. If you saw a mountain lion, would you want to get closer? Most sane people would say no. The smart thing would have been to slowly walk back to your car and get in so that the buffalo would not see you as much of a threat. Can we give this woman a Darwin award?

They are WILD animals and not pets. Treat them accordingly and you most likely will not get hurt.

[Blue Ayez]

01:05 PM on 07/25/2010

Bad bison... I say fence off the park. That'll teach them.

Even the dumbest cave dweller knew the largest human is no match for a WILD animal. Teach your children that. It will keep them safer and the animals alive.

[TokyoStormWarning]

03:06 AM on 07/25/2010

Serves her right, silly woman.

[ontariogirl]

08:09 PM on 07/24/2010

Darwin winner.

[DemiCrat]

07:42 PM on 07/24/2010

The only thing disturbing about this video is the media's failure to point out the object thrown at the animal and the ridiculously close proximity the victim was to it. Its unbelievable how many people ignore the signs, warnings, and their own safety to get a close photo or 'pet' the animals. These people really are a special kind of stupid. Whats worse is the dependency they create by feeding the wild animals and leaving trash out. Just ask any mountain town in Colorado about their bear problems. At least in this situation they are only harming themselves. The same goes with ignorant, unprepared people getting lost or stranded hiking/climbing/backpacking in the backcountry. Completely ill-prepared people who require tens of thousands of man hours and millions of dollars from the state every year to search for and rescue them. These people need to do a little research or stay in the city.

[mtview]

03:15 PM on 07/24/2010

Of course, the dopey media fails to point out that someone threw something that hit the bison.

[Moonlight Graham]

12:39 PM on 07/24/2010

People amaze me with their goofy behavior whenever they have to cope with the real world instead of the urban zoo in which they are inmates. In Arizona, we live in the desert and have flash floods during the Summer thunderstorm season. There are numerous roads with "DO NO ENTER WHEN FLOODED" signs prominently displayed where the roads cross normally dry river beds. Yet every single year people, trapped in their cars, get swept away and and killed in these washes in or near Tucson or Phoenix or elsewhere. Drivers who have to be rescued from flooded cars are heavily fined here.

I have visited SW Montana and Yellowstone many times and watched tourists do the most mind-numbingly stupid things when they see a large mammal in a field by the side of the road. Maybe they think bears are dangerous, but far more tourists are injured by elk, moose, or bison than by bears or lions. In the park, I advocate heavy fines to be imposed on people who approach these animals off the road.

[Hillrick]

12:51 PM on 07/24/2010

Looking at some videos of folks at zoos show the same stoopid behaviors. Wonder if those folks don't believe in evolution feel Darwin's doesn't apply to them.

[sloreader]

10:05 AM on 07/24/2010

So I guess just because a wild animal is near the visitor's center it could still be dangerous? What a concept!

[saskatoonie]

02:57 AM on 07/24/2010

You should see all the stupid tourists in Banff National Park.....oye!

[Behind the Tweed Curtain]

03:03 AM on 07/24/2010

Do you mean the ones who want to feed the animals wonder bread?

[saskatoonie]

03:14 AM on 07/24/2010

So many stories so little time......

[thegirlnextdoor]

12:20 PM on 07/24/2010

At Yellowstone we had a guy who put his kids on the back of a moose, cause the moose was standing still and looked so cute ..... well, ...... that one has a really sad ending.

And then there are the folks who insist on walking out over the thin crust that covers the hot springs so they can get closer.

[thegirlnextdoor]

01:56 AM on 07/24/2010

"decided to go closer".

I used to work at Yellowstone and every time there was an incident it was because someone did not seem to know the difference between the family pet and a large wild animal. Fools. Stupid fools.

[saskatoonie]

02:52 AM on 07/24/2010

Fav'd. God yes, I absolutely agree with you!

[sloreader]

10:06 AM on 07/24/2010

The list goes on, these are the same people who tell their kids to back up closer to the edge of the Grand Canyon so they can get a better shot.

[thegirlnextdoor]

12:17 PM on 07/24/2010

Hay Saskatoon! Hows the weather there? We finally got some heat here in Victoria. Fanned you back - a fellow Canuck

[Lore Splitt]

12:31 PM on 07/24/2010

It's pure stupidity, plain and simple, you're right. It's an arrogance I think, we're so ingrained with thinking we're the "top of food chain" that some people think nothing can harm us, especially something that seems so mellow.

For something that size, that wasn't an "attack" that was a pray animal telling something to back off. If he REALLY attacked they'd be dead.

[thegirlnextdoor]

12:34 PM on 07/24/2010

Just a note - buffalo are not "prey" animals. They are herbavores. They graze.

[mzbreeze]

11:11 PM on 07/23/2010

If you want to play 'bean the buffalo' your gonna lose. The headlines should have read: Tourists HARASSING wildlife at Yellowstone finally get what they deserve!

It surprizes me people get so close. Throwing things at the animals to get their attention so you can get a picuture of them facing you is about as dumb as dumb can get. Then to cry 'poor me' to the media when the animal turns and charges is just plain pathetic! Aren't there laws about harassing the wildlife in our national parks?

So who got fined for beanin' the buffalo?!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

07:02 PM on 07/23/2010

Per commenter below, please note someone THREW something that hit the bison's left flank!

It kicks, turns, THEN charges.

Anyone get a picture of the IDJIT who threw the object?