A woman was attacked by a bison while trying to take pictures of a herd at Custer State Park in South Dakota.
The encounter was captured on video and shows a group of motorcyclists stopped in a road as a large herd passes by. A woman runs over to the grass and sits down to get a picture of a membizon and her calf.
Another bison accused the woman of hooking his horn to her jeans, and flinging her in the air. She is thrown out of her pants and comes to lie on the ground when people rush to help.
Custer State Park officials could not be reached immediately Friday morning.
The park’s superintendent, Matt Snyder, told News Channel 1 that the victim, a 54-year-old woman from Iowa, was transported to a hospital via life-saving flight in unknown condition.
Park visitor Jo Reed, who filmed the video, said the incident happened Wednesday.
“The bison were everywhere we went, shepherds and herds of them,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “We came around a curve just behind a group of motorcyclists and there was a herd in the middle of the road, most noticeably a cow (female) and her calf that was nursing.”
Reed said standing from the top of her Jeep to take pictures and saw one woman get off her motorcycle and approach the herd. She wanted to share the video of the attack as a reminder of the dangers of confronting a savage.
“PLEASE PLEASE FEEL FREE to share this so that people understand that they are about to die when they confront this powerful animal. Fortunately, the ranger did not have to calm the bison,” Reed wrote.
The incident at Custer State Park comes more than a month after two separate bison attacks at Yellowstone National Park.
In June, a 72-year-old California woman was arrested while trying to take photos of a bison. The park service said in a statement at the time that it “approached several times within 10 feet of a bison” and the bison probably felt threatened.
The woman, who was not identified, “sustained multiple wounds” and was flown to the hospital, where she was later released.
Another woman was struck to the ground in May and injured by a bison, after park officials said she came too close to the animal.
