YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — A visitor to Yellowstone National Park from Florida was gored by a bison, marking the first such incident of 2025, occurring just weeks into the bustling summer period.
Park authorities reiterated a common advisory: Maintain a safe distance from wildlife. Despite ignoring this warning, the 47-year-old man was fortunate to escape with only minor injuries, as detailed in a park statement on Wednesday.
Officials at the park withheld further information regarding the Cape Coral, Florida, visitor or specifics of Sunday’s incident, noting only that it occurred at Lake Village, a region featuring cabins, a lodge, and campsites along the shore of Yellowstone Lake.
Bison can be aggressive when people don’t give them enough space, park officials said in their statement, and have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other wild animal.
At least two people were gored by bison last year, including an 83-year-old South Carolina woman who was seriously injured. A bison gored and significantly injured an Arizona woman in the park in 2023. Bison injured two people in 2022.
Besides getting too close, visitors have been known to pick up baby bison. Such contact can cause the baby to be shunned by its herd with deadly results, not to mention the risk to the tourist.
Usually seen grazing or lolling peacefully, bison can run up to 35 mph (56 kph) – faster than the men’s world record in the 100-meter dash.
Park regulations require visitors to keep at least 25 yards (meters) away from bison and other large herbivores, and 100 yards away from wolves and bears.
Bison are North America’s biggest land animal. They stand up to 6 feet (2 meters) tall and weigh up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms).
Some 4.7 million people visited Yellowstone in 2024. A tour bus crash killed seven people in nearby Idaho last week. Summer season began with road plowing in late April.
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