Woman Flown to Hospital After Being Injured by Bison at YNP

I've yet to make the trip to see the sights at Yellowstone National Park. Everybody is always saying "you have to go" - and I find myself buying into the recommendations - and then I'll see a story like this that makes me feel just fine about putting a visit on the back burner for a while longer. There's just something about the activities I do in my spare time.....and call me crazy.....but I kind of like to do them without the possibility of being attacked, gored, trampled, stomped, injured, or possibly killed by wild animals.

A story over the weekend had a hiker in YNP having an "encounter" with a bison. The details of the incident are a bit light but the 30-year-old woman suffered significant injuries and ended up being flown to an Idaho hospital to receive treatment for her injuries. It's not know if the woman was doing anything irresponsible or had a chance to keep a safe distance between herself and the bison. A not-so-fun fact about Yellowstone is that bison account for more injuries to park visitors than any other animal.

I get that the percentage of people that have encounters with animals at Yellowstone is small compared to the amount of visitors the park sees each year. But it's stories like this that prompt us to constantly repeat the warnings that are provided by the park - warnings that are included in a Missoulian article about this latest animal encounter: "Stay more than 25 yards away from all large animals including bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves. People are further advised to turn around and go the other way to avoid a close proximity interaction with a wild animal."

With the nice weather hitting there's a lot of people making the trek to Yellowstone. Keep in mind, this is one way that you can get in free at YNP. And keep your eyes open for the new driverless shuttles that are being used this summer.