This news story about a 25-year-old woman who was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park is based on a May 31, 2022, National Park Service news release. You can read the original release here.
The Memorial Day weekend is often considered to be the start of the busy tourist season in popular national parks like Yellowstone.
A very busy weekend throughout the National Park System, this comes with a huge influx of visitors, some of whom are on their first national park visit and inexperienced in dealing with wild animals.
This ignorance, or blatant disregard for park rules, was put on display on Memorial Day in Yellowstone National Park.
On the morning of May 30, 2022, a 25-year-old woman from Ohio approached a bison in Yellowstone and was gored by the animal.
Bison Gores 25-Year-Old Ohio Woman in Yellowstone National Park
Park officials said the incident happened at Black Sand Basin, a beautiful hydrothermal area just north of Old Faithful.
The bison was walking near a boardwalk and the woman, who was on the boardwalk, approached it to within 10 feet. This agitated the animal, which consequently “gored the woman and tossed her 10 feet into the air,” the National Park Service said.
Additionally, there were two other persons within 25 yards of that same bison.
Yellowstone National Park rules say that all visitors must stay more than 25 yards from all large animals, including bison, but also bighorn sheep, moose, elk, deer and coyotes. This is for the safety of both the animals and people. When it comes to predators like wolves and bears, it’s illegal to approach them to within 100 yards.
According to the Park Service, the woman “sustained a puncture wound and other injuries.”
Emergency medical providers responded to the incident right away and an ambulance transported the woman to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. It was not specified if anyone else got injured during this incident.
Some media have reported that the 25-year-old female died from her wounds. However, at the time of publication of this news story, this has not officially been confirmed, neither by the National Park Service, nor by any other agency or the medical center she was transported to.
The Park Service stated that the incident is still under investigation. They don’t have any other information to share beyond what’s covered in this article.
This was the first time in 2022 that a visitor approached and threatened a bison in Yellowstone, causing the bison to respond and gore the person. These incidents, however, do happen every year in the park, almost always due to the carelessness of the person.
The park warns that “bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal.” This includes grizzly bears.
Unpredictable and able to run three times faster than humans, bison are by far the most dangerous animals in Yellowstone National Park.
You can read about how to prevent bison attacks here.