FILE – Bo Welden, wildlife guide, recently caught an incredible act of bravery on camera. A mother bison chased a bear away from her calves. He tells FOX Weather how he captured the scene and how he keeps his clients safe in the wild.
MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. – A 47-year-old man was gored by a bison while visiting Yellowstone National Park on Sunday.
According to the National Park Service, the man was attacked after getting too close to the large animal in the Lake Village area of the park. Medics treated the man for minor injuries, park officials said.
Most national parks require people to keep a minimum distance of 25 yards from wildlife, and 100 yards from predators like bears and wolves.
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Yellowstone National Park, North America, Summer, American bison.
(Gilles MARTIN/Gamma-Rapho / Getty Images)
The NPS says this is the first reported incident of bison-related injuries in Yellowstone in 2025, with two incidents in 2024 and one in 2023. Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal, as they are unpredictable and can run three times faster than humans.
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In 2024, a bison gored an 83-year-old woman in the park, leaving her with serious injuries after being lifted about a foot off the ground from the animal’s horns.
About a month earlier, a woman went viral after she was caught on camera taking a picture of herself standing dangerously close to a bison.
Woman takes selfie with bison on May 20, 2023 in Yellowstone National Park.
(Storyful / FOX Weather)
Approaching bison is a direct threat to the animal, and according to the NPS, they may respond by bluff charging, head bobbing, pawing, bellowing, or snorting. The best way to observe wildlife is to watch from afar, using binoculars or a zoom lens.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WY – JANUARY 21:A visitor watches bison at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park during the government shutdown. Visitors are allowed to enter the park with the understanding that there are no government services due to the government shutdown.
(William Campbell / Corbis / Getty Images)
“For thousands of years, millions of bison shaped ecological communities across North America,” reads a statement from the NPS.
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The North American bison we have today appear in the fossil record about 5,000 years ago.
A wild bison rubs against a fire hydrant to help remove molting fur, outside the Mammoth Hot Spring Hotel in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming May 15, 2011. Yellowstone is the only place in the United States where bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. The bison population in Yellowstone fluctuates from 2300 to 4500 animals.
(ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images)
According to the NPS, tens of thousands of bison thrived across North America before European settlement, from northern Mexico to interior Alaska, California to New York, and Georgia.
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The bison population in Yellowstone has ranged from 3,500 to nearly 6,000 in recent years.
