A woman was nearly killed after trying to pet a wild bison during a stroll at a national park.
Footage shared on social media by Russ Bjorn shows the moment a tourist reaches out her hand to touch a bison while on a path near the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, US.
The woman, who is with a group of friends, appears at the end of the path and tries to touch the enormous wild animal.
At first, the bison looks like it will let the woman stroke it when just moments later the animal begins to charge at.
The video does not show if the animal nudged or attacked her, but she ends up flying backwards to try and escape being gored by the huge beast.
According to LiveScience, bisons have gored at least three people in Yellowstone National Park between May and July, 2022.
During one horrific incident, a woman was gored and launched 10ft into the air and sustained serious injuries, according to the National Park Service.
A warning on the NPS' website reads: "National parks offer a unique experience for watching wildlife. Animals in parks are wild—visitors have the amazing opportunity to view animals as they live and interact with each other in their natural homes.
"But with that privilege comes responsibility. Visitors are responsible for their own safety and for the safety of the animals, too. Simply put, leave animals alone—no touching, no feeding, no harassing.
"Just remember to keep your distance, and enjoy your experience watching wildlife."
Despite the warnings, visitors to the park often get too close to the animals at Yellowstone.
Park officials were forced to put down a bison calf after a man picked it up causing it to be shunned by the herd.
“We made the choice we did not because we are lazy, uncaring or inexpert in our understanding of bison biology,” the park said in a statement on Twitter. “We made the choice we did because national parks preserve natural processes.”
The calf became separated from its mum when the herd crossed a river in north-eastern Yellowstone on Saturday May 20.
The unidentified man pushed the struggling calf up from the river and on to a road, park officials said.
This caused the calf to be shunned and repeatedly to reunite the calf with the herd but were unsuccessful.
In another incident that shocked visitors, a woman approached a massive bison bull and stood inches from it to pose for some selfies.
One visitor said: “She was trying to pet it.
“It was insane.”
People were telling her to move away but she kept posing for 10 minutes, reports Outsider.
