Teen Gored in Thigh, Tossed in Air by Bison

Last Monday, a 9-year-old girl was tossed in the air by a bison at Yellowstone. On Saturday, a similar incident in another national park. A 17-year-old Colorado girl who was visiting North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park was herself injured by a bison. The teen was reportedly walking on a trail that took her between two bull bison that had been fighting; one of them charged, and the AP reports she was hit in the back, gored in the upper right thigh, and tossed some 6 feet into the air. The Billings Gazette reports park rangers and Billings County paramedics who treated her at the scene found her conscious but on the ground with a "significant injury" to her thigh.

She was ultimately airlifted to a Bismarck hospital where her condition was described as stable. Park visitors are reminded that they are to keep a minimum of 75 feet between themselves and bison, along with other large animals like elk, deer, and horses. For context, KRTV reports that's the length of two buses. It adds that bulls can be particularly aggressive during the mating season, which runs from the middle of July through August. It's the second goring in three years in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, which a rep says is "relatively few" when considering the bison population and number of park visitors. (The 9-year-old was said to be part of a group that spent a good deal of time very close to bison.)