Bison throws fleeing grandfather eight feet into the air at Yellowstone

A male bison roams through Elk Island National Park near Edmonton, Alberta. Photo by GEOFF ROBINS /AFP via Getty Images

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A bull bison at Yellowstone National Park hooked a fleeing grandfather and threw him roughly eight feet (about 2.5 metres) in the air as his grandson escaped.

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The New York Times and the New York Post identified the man as Carl Isom-McDaniel, a grandfather from Whatcom County, Washington, who broke multiple bones. The attack happened Friday night at Bridge Bay Campground, near Yellowstone Lake in the southeastern corner of the park in Wyoming.

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Isom-McDaniel was badly hurt but stayed upbeat as he waited for a park ambulance, Mike MacLeod, the photographer who filmed the encounter, told the New York Times. He was “conscious the whole time, in good spirits, joking.”

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The bull had been charging around the campground as mating season began, MacLeod said. It rushed a group of teenage boys, who scattered, then wallowed in the dirt by a picnic table before Isom-McDaniel and his young grandson stopped to photograph it.

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MacLeod said that when the bison stood up, the grandfather told his grandson it was time to go. The grandson darted away, but the bull chased Isom-McDaniel around a cluster of pines, caught him with its left horn near the hip and flipped him.

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MacLeod told the Times he put down his camera and ran at the animal, shouting and waving his arms to drive it off as it stood over the man. Other campers followed, and the bison ran off. A park ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later.

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