Footage shared on social media in May shows the moment a bison almost attacked and gored a tourist to death in Yellowstone National Park.
The video, credited to Russ Bjorn, shows a woman reaching out to touch a bison near a pathway through the iconic U.S. national park. She appears to be at the very end of a group of people, and for some reason thought it was a good idea to reach out and try to pet the enormous wild animal.
At first, the bison looks like it’s about to let her pet it, but then it quickly begins to charge her. It’s unclear whether the animal actually nudged or attacked the woman, but she goes flying backwards to try and escape being gored.
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Bison gored at least three people in Yellowstone National Park between May and July 2022, according to LiveScience. During one of those incidents, a woman was gored and thrown 10 feet into the air, sustaining serious injuries, the National Park Service said in a statement at the time.
The Instagram page TouronsOfYellowstone shared several other videos of people getting way too close and friendly with the huge beasts. In one, a woman was standing extremely close to a huge bison. According to the clip, she stood taking selfies for “like 10 minutes.” (RELATED: Authorities Kill Bison Calf At Yellowstone National Park, Appear To Blame Tourist)
Bison, to date, are responsible for a majority of the animal-induced injuries at Yellowstone, according to Newsweek. “It’s only a matter of time before a human goes flying!” the owner of the Instagram account wrote in one of the captions.