Yellowstone national park officials have reiterated warnings to stay at least 25 yards away from large wild animals – as well as 100 yards from bears and wolves – after a bison gored a 47-year-old woman from Arizona on Sunday.
The goring left the woman with “significant injuries to her chest and abdomen,” officials said in a statement.
Bison, also known as buffalo, are North America’s largest land animals. They are known to become more agitated and unpredictable during mating – or rutting – season, from mid-July through mid-August. The woman was attacked by one of those bovines after she and the person she was with were in a field.
The pair were apparently moving away from a pair of bison when one charged and gored her. She was later flown to an area hospital. The encounter produced the first bison goring in the park this year, the park service said.
In an advisory posted on Monday, park officials sought to remind visitors that “wildlife in Yellowstone … are wild and can be dangerous when approached.”
The advisory directed visitors to stay more than 25 yards (23 metres) away from all large animals, including bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes, and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves.
It also warned visitors to use extra caution and give the bison additional space during mating season.
Bull bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet tall. Cow bison are smaller at 1,000 pounds and stand up to five feet.
Bison, the park services added, “are unpredictable and can run three times faster than humans”.
Compared with 2022, the first goring of the year in Yellowstone has come relatively late in the season.
Last year in late May, a 25-year-old visitor from Ohio was gored and tossed 10 feet into the air. A month later, a 34-year-old tourist from Colorado was charged and gored near Giant Geyser. The following day, a 71-year-old woman from Pennsylvania was gored by a bull bison.
According to a 2019 report from Utah state university, bison injure more people in Yellowstone than any other wildlife. Half of attacks occur when a tourist attempts to take a photo with a bison, the Washington Post reported last year.
Between 1978 and 1992, 56 people were injured and two people died from bison attacks at the park. From 2000 to 2015, there were 25 reported injuries, the outlet calculated.
Park officials frequently remind visitors that it is illegal to feed, touch, tease, frighten or intentionally disturb bison. In 2018, a tourist from Oregon was arrested and later sentenced to 130 days in jail for drunken behavior and harassment of a bison.
Some have theorized that after the park was closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, Yellowstone bison – whose numbers are increasing – may have become more accustomed to solitude from humans.
Now, with visitors returning in large numbers, the animals could simply be holding their ground. “If someone gets too close, the bison may decide to clearly set some boundaries,” Scott Cundy, co-founder of Wildland Trekking, told the Post.
