Bull bison tosses Yellowstone tourist 8ft in air, with run-in caught on video

A bison stands near a tree on 19 May 2026 in Yellowstone national park in Wyoming. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A bison stands near a tree on 19 May 2026 in Yellowstone national park in Wyoming. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images Bull bison tosses Yellowstone tourist 8ft in air, with run-in caught on video Man reportedly seriously injured by the bison, described as ‘agitated’ and ‘charging anything’ by photographer An enraged, 2,000lb (900kg) bull bison hooked a tourist and tossed him 8ft into the air at a campsite in Wyoming ’s Yellowstone national park on Friday – an encounter captured by a professional photographer who said the animal was “agitated, pissed off and charging anything and everything”. The tourist was reported to be seriously injured by the male bison while walking with his grandson through the Bridge Bay campground, south of Fishing Bridge. The National Park Service (NPS), which administers Yellowstone, has not released details about the attack. But Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from nearby Bozeman, Montana, gave a vivid account of it to Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily newspaper. And he provided video of the attack to the outlet, which published it on YouTube . MacLeod told the outlet that he was camping at a campground with his wife when she spotted the bison approaching the area. “I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit,” MacLeod said. “It’s changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening.” The bison, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily, “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.” MacLeod said the bison kept running through the campground while campers yelled and screamed to warn each other. The man who would be tossed into the air then appeared coming down a road while the animal was sitting in dust. “He was sitting in the dust, like bison do, with his head out towards the road,” MacLeod said. MacLeod’s video shows the grandfather and grandson each pull cellphone cameras out and point it at the bison – while evidently dozens of yards away – before it started to get up. View image in fullscreen A bison in Yellowstone national park. Photograph: Jacob W Frank/NPS At that point, MacLeod reported to Cowboy State Daily: “The grandfather’s like, ‘OK, time to leave,’ and they moved off behind these trees.” The animal was distracted by a pickup truck and charged it, prompting the vehicle’s driver to speed off. “The guy in the truck saw that happening, and he just kept going,” said MacLeod, who added that the bison then turned his attention to where the man and his grandson “were hiding in the trees”. The grandson fled managed to flee while the bison chased his grandfather around some trees and flipped him, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. “The