SerpApi.Org
A grandpa tossed 8-feet into the air by a rampaging bison at Yellowstone National Park bravely lured the animal away from his grandson moments before the attack, according to a photographer who witnessed the heart-stopping moment.
Carl Isom-McDaniel, 65, told his grandson, 13, to get out of harm’s way so he could distract the 2,000-pound animal on the loose at Wyoming’s Bridge Bay campground, snapper Mike MacLeod told NewsNation.
“Carl and his grandson started walking along the road, and the bison saw them,” MacLeod, who has experience reading animal behavior, said as he recalled Friday’s attack.
“Carl told his grandson to run along the road and go back to the place where they had just come from while he lured the bison away. So, he saved his grandson’s life.”
The photographer then said he tried to distract the bull bison.
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“So, I started yelling for other campers … running, jumping up as high as I could, and screaming at the top of my lungs, and ran at it to distract,” he said.
Isom-McDaniel and his grandson spotted the animal while on a post-dinner walk and decided to take some pictures — unaware it was agitated.
But the grandpa told CNN that a truck driver blasted his horn. The animal then became agitated and ran toward the pair.
Isom-McDaniel darted through some trees to avoid the bison before being flung into the air.
“He made the perfect flip and landed on his side,” MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily, describing the horrifying ordeal.
“The bison was at least 6-feet tall and [Isom-McDaniel] was several feet above him.”
The retiree, who lives in Kendall, Washington, was relieved he wasn’t more seriously injured — despite breaking his femur in four places near his hip.
“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me,” he told CNN.
“He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so.”
Isom-McDaniel was pleased his injuries were “not as catastrophic” as they might’ve been.
He was rushed to a Bozeman, Montana, hospital and underwent surgery earlier this week.
Meanwhile, wildlife officials say the bison will not be euthanized.
Yellowstone visitors are urged to stay at least 25 yards away from animals such as bison, the National Park Service warns.
“Bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal,” the NPS says.
“They are unpredictable, can run three times faster than humans and will defend their space when threatened.”
