Yellowstone National Park is a place for family vacations involving the wonder of the wild–except for this Friday’s horrific incident when a 16-year-old Taiwanese exchange student was attacked by a bison. She was posing for a picture about three to six feet away from the bison at the time. There was a group of people gathering to watch the grazing bison at the time of the attack. The bison took a couple of steps toward her and gored her. The 16-year-old was taken to a nearby health clinic and transported via helicopter ambulance for further examination. She was seriously injured but luckily, her injuries were not fatal.
Amy Bartlett, a representative of Yellowstone National Park said that these tourists were less than 10 feet from the bison. The printed rules of safety for Yellowstone National Park require a minimum of 300 feet distance from bears and wolves, and 75 feet from all other large animals.
Bison, sometimes referred to as “buffalo”, are not really small fry as the largest land animals in North America. A male might weight up to 2000 lbs. and a female 1000 lbs. Yellowstone National Park is truly a home for bison, being the only place in the U.S. where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. It is also home to the country’s largest bison population. They tend to roam freely in herds. Even if they may look not-quite-the-part upon grazing activities, they can be aggressive.
The Safety of Yellowstone National Park
The safety rules of Yellowstone National Park require visitors to stay at least 300 feet away from bears and wolves and 75 feet from all other large animals. It indicates that bison can run three times the average speed of humans despite their large size. More specifically, bison can run up to about 30 miles per hour. It is an annual occurrence that visitors are gored by bison in Yellowstone National Park, but some have even been killed. Basically, it would definitely be smart of one to familiarize themselves yourself with the potential dangers of any wild creature one might plan to come across at Yellowstone National Park or any other terrain at which wildlife abound.
