A man was seriously injured after a bison bull charged at him and hurled him above its head in Wyoming.
A seemingly serene day at Yellowstone National Park turned into a near-death experience when a bison attacked a man in front of hikers.
The tourist was left with serious injuries, including a broken hip, during the encounter, which saw him fly through the air before landing on the hoofs of the large animal.
Professional photographer Mike MacLeod happened to be camping in the area and he filmed the incident at Bridge Bay Campground by Yellowstone Lake on Friday.
On the footage, the animal, which has lived free-ranging in the park since prehistoric times, can be seen frolicking on the dusty ground.
Its attention then appears to be captured by a grandfather walking along the nearby road with his grandson as the pair stop to take pictures.
Suddenly, the animal gets up and picks up speed as it sees a pick-up truck approach.
But as the truck passes, its attention turns to the pair, who try to shelter behind trees.
The boy managed to escape, but his grandfather was being pursued by the 2,000-pound animal.
Eventually it catches up, and its horns lift the man up like a ragdoll, flipping him around 8 feet in the air before he lands on the ground near the animal, which keeps tossing its head in agitation.
That is when MacLeod, who was a photographer with the Army, jumped into action, afraid ‘he was going to gore the guy on the ground,’ he told Cowboy State Daily news.
MacLeod and some other people managed to scare the bull away, while others called 911 and supported the victim, who has since been named as Carl McDaniel, a community leader from Washington state.
He was ‘in a lot of pain, particularly in his hips and the leg he landed on,’ the photographer said.
Just moments before the incident, the bison had been charging at other people, including a group of children taking pictures from a distance away.
‘You can tell he was agitated, pissed off and charging at anything and everything,’ he said.
The victim and his grandson are not to blame as they kept their distance, according to MacLeod.
The granddad is a known figure in his community after working as a commissioner covering water and parks, according to Cascadia Daily News.
The Kendall, Washington, resident was described as a Good Samaritan who volunteers as a Santa Claus in his hometown of 25 years.
Bison in Yellowstone
The Yellowstone bison herd are the only group in the US that has been roaming freely since prehistoric times.
Made up of around 5,300 animals, they can be spotted all year around in the Hayden and Lamar valleys grazing near footpaths.
Bison were hunted to the brink of extinction in the 1800s for their fur and meat, and by 1902, there were about two dozen animals left in Yellowstone before Army protection.
A male bull can grow up to 2,000 pounds, and a female cow can weigh up to 1,000 pounds.
Some Yellowstone bison can live to 20 years old.
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