A tourist miraculously escaped serious injury after being viciously attacked by a bison in Custer State Park, South Dakota, on Wednesday.
NBC News reports: The encounter was captured on video and shows a group of motorcycle riders stopped in a road as a large herd passes. A woman walks over to the grass and sits down to get a picture of a mother bison and her calf. Another bison charges the woman and hooks its horn on her jeans, flinging her around in the air. She is thrown out of her pants and lands on the ground as people rush over to help.
More from KNBN-TV: Custer State Park Superintendent Matt Snyder says that the woman had to be transported to the hospital via Black Hills Life Flight. … The victim, a 54-year-old Iowa woman, escaped serious injury during the incident while not actually being gored by the animal's horn. According to Snyder, the woman was a passenger of a motorcycle who had got off to approach and take pictures of a bison calf when another bison charged her from behind. The animal caught the woman on her belt and jeans with its horn and ran with her being tossed around on its head. The woman was saved when her pants came off and she fell to the ground unconscious.
Jo Reed, who filmed the incident, wrote above her videos on Facebook: “I've never actually filmed a near death experience, and this was easily going to happen to the woman we saw in Custer State Park on Wednesday. We decided to take our Jeep instead of the bike, as it was nearly 100 degrees. It was beautiful, it's always beautiful. Rolling hills, and grasslands for miles, with the fresh scent of the pines, ever so fragrant. The bison were everywhere we went, herds and herds of them. They were frisky and punchy with each other, some trying to mate. We came around a curve just behind a group of motorcyclists and there was a herd standing in the middle of the road, most noticeably a cow (female) and her calf which was nursing. I popped out of the top of our Jeep to snap a few photos as we were at a stand still… Initially one woman got off her bike and approached the herd and then more followed. It was a tense moment, because John and I just knew they weren't respecting these massive beautiful creatures space. BEFORE ⚠️ you watch, I need to apologize for the swear words, I didn't even realize I was saying them until I listened. Trying not to swear…😬, the stupidity of this woman just got to me I guess. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FEEL FREE TO share this, so people understand they're about to die when they confront an animal this powerful. Thankfully the ranger did not need to tranquilize the bison. The sound you hear is a bull whip. The woman's pants were eventually thrown off and he picked them up.”
