Bison attacks have been happening at Yellowstone National Park for years.
Obviously, we see a lot more of them that happen nowadays thanks to everyone having a working video camera resting in their pocket. Back in the day, someone had to have a camcorder charged up and ready to go in order to capture the “when wildlife attacks” moments.
This video below appears to be shot with a video camera. For those that lived through the era, seeing camcorder footage is pretty much unmistakable. Feel free to call me out if you think I’m wrong, but this vintage footage screams camcorder.
And speaking of screaming, there were plenty of tourists that were visiting Yellowstone’s famous Old Faithful geyser that were running and screaming when this bison came running in. The 2,000 pound beast imposed its will on everyone that was there, and definitely cut some people’s Old Faithful visitation time short.
Yellowstone National Park’s most famous geyser is visited by over 4 million people a year, and was given the name “Old Faithful” because of the frequency of its eruptions. The geothermal feature has sent water up into the air every 45 minutes to two hours for over two decades. It’s about as reliable as you can get.
Which is why so many park visitors in this footage were lined up to see it in action, making this bison attack that much scarier. Many tourists in the old footage had their backs turned to the wild animal as it ran amuck, and their attention was only diverted when others started to run and scream with the bison moving closer.
The large animal seemingly ran into the area out of nowhere, and sent the crowds that were there to see Old Faithful scattering. Some ran as fast as they could, while others tried to play things cool and walk away so that they didn’t alarm the bison any further. Most bison safety guidelines would advise you to slowly move away from the animal, but sometimes it’s hard to follow that direction in the heat of the moment.
Fortunately, the rambunctious bison never made any contact, though there were a number of close calls. There’s a chance it just wanted the Old Faithful viewing area to itself, since afterwards it started to roll around in the grassy area just off the pedestrian walkways.
Take a look:
