A 65-year-old man was thrown eight feet into the air by a charging bison while touring Yellowstone National Park with his grandson Friday.
A video captured by professional photographer Mike MacLeod shows Carl Isom-McDaniel, the injured tourist, and his grandson taking pictures of the animal lying next to the Bridge Bay Campground near Yellowstone Lake. Suddenly, the bison jumped to its feet and charged at McDaniel and his grandson. Using its horns, the bison threw McDaniel into the air.
McDaniel landed several feet away and suffered multiple broken bones. He was immediately aided by nearby witnesses and emergency medical personnel who responded to the scene and transported McDaniel to a nearby hospital, according to park authorities.
What the video doesn’t show, MacLeod said in a phone call Monday, is how McDaniel saved his grandson’s life.
In the moments following the attack, the first thing on McDaniel’s mind wasn’t his aching injuries — it was his grandson.
A breakdown of the ‘unlucky’ day’s events
Minutes before entering the Bridge Bay Campground, the bison charged at a group of young boys, MacLeod told the Deseret News.
When the bison arrived to the Bridge Bay Campground, there were several people near it, some much closer than McDaniel and his grandson standing a “a good ways away.” But the bison chose McDaniel and his grandson as its target.
“It was just unlucky,” MacLeod said.
Upon spotting the pair, the bison charged. The video shows McDaniel running through trees until the bison caught up with him and flipped him in the air.
After charging at McDaniel, the bison was still “extremely agitated” and “looking for something else to hit,” Macleod said.
“I was really worried that finding nothing else, he was gonna go back to Carl and either gore him or stomp him or something worse,” MacLeod said.
“So at that point I just made myself very loud,” he continued. “I ran right toward it, jumping in the air, screaming, asking other campers to help me get this bison off, and a whole bunch of people did all at once.”
Eventually the bison ran away, MacLeod said.
McDaniel saved his grandson’s life by taking the attack, MacLeod says
MacLeod said that when he approached McDaniel after the incident, “the first thing that he wanted to know from me was is his grandson OK.”
MacLeod later found out that when the bison began to charge, McDaniel had immediately told his grandson to go hide in the trees. McDaniel then ran to lead the bison away from his grandson.
“No. 1, his grandson was his responsibility,” MacLeod said.
McDaniel is not the first victim of Yellowstone bison this year
This is not the first bison attack in Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured in an attack just over two weeks ago on June 26.
“Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal,” the National Park Service said in a release. “They are unpredictable, can run three times faster than humans and will defend their space when threatened.”
Officials warn visitors to stay at least 25 feet away from bison and run if a bison starts to charge.