Grandfather sustains serious injuries in Yellowstone bison attack

Photographer describes agitated bison charging through campground

A 2,000-pound bull bison hooked a tourist and tossed him approximately 8 feet into the air at a Yellowstone National Park campground on Friday, an encounter captured on video by a professional photographer who said the animal was “agitated, pissed off and charging anything and everything.”

The attack, which occurred during bison rutting season at the Bridge Bay campground south of Fishing Bridge, is the second bison-on-human incident in Yellowstone this year. The National Park Service warns on its website that animals “are wild and dangerous, no matter how docile they may appear to be.”

The tourist, who was walking with his grandson through the Bridge Bay campground south of Fishing Bridge, sustained serious injuries, according to Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from Bozeman, Montana, who witnessed the attack. MacLeod provided video of the encounter to Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily newspaper, which published it on YouTube.

The National Park Service has not released details about the attack.

MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily that he was camping at the campground with his wife when she spotted the bison approaching. He said the bison “started walking through the campground. He was coming up to this group of kids, who were taking pictures on their cellphones from a good distance away, and then the buffalo charged these kids.”

According to MacLeod, the bison continued running through the campground while campers yelled and screamed to warn each other. The man who would be thrown then appeared coming down a road while the animal was sitting in dust.

MacLeod’s video shows the grandfather and grandson each pull out cellphone cameras and point them at the bison while evidently dozens of yards away, before the animal started to get up. MacLeod told the outlet that the grandfather said, “OK, time to leave,” and they moved behind some trees.

The animal was distracted by a pickup truck and charged it, prompting the driver to speed off, MacLeod said. The bison then turned its attention to where the man and his grandson “were hiding in the trees,” according to MacLeod. The grandson fled, MacLeod said, while the bison chased the grandfather around trees and flipped him.

“The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air,” MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. “He made a perfect flip and landed on his side. The bison was at least 6ft tall, and the victim was several feet above him.”

MacLeod said he tried to distract the bison after the man was thrown. “I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” he said. Other bystanders did the same, and the bison fled.

MacLeod said the wounded man’s grandson told him the grandfather “has some pretty significant injuries and is not out of the woods yet.”

Yellowstone officials warn on the park’s website that the animals “are wild and dangerous, no matter how docile they may appear to be” and advise visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from all other animals, including bison and elk. The park says it is illegal to willfully remain near or approach wildlife within any distance that disturbs or displaces the animal.

MacLeod said the injured man was following park suggestions when he was attacked. “I didn’t see anybody getting close,” MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. “People were yelling, ‘Careful, there’s a bison coming through,’ and they kept their distance. They were very respectful.”

The attack occurred during bison rutting season, when males seek to show off their physical prowess and stamina in contests for mating. MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily, “You can tell he was agitated, pissed off and charging anything and everything.”

Cowboy State Daily reported this was Yellowstone’s second bison-on-human incident in 2026. The first occurred on June 26, when a 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano, north of Fishing Bridge. In a statement at the time, the NPS said the visitor sustained injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital, and that the incident remained under investigation.