There has been a steep rise in bison attacks on humans in Yellowstone National Park this year, which may be connected to a rise in visitors trying to take selfies or other close-up photos of the animals. The latest injured visitor—the fifth this year—is a 43-year-old woman from Mississippi who was charged by a bison Tuesday near the Fairy Falls trailhead just outside Old Faithful. She and her daughter turned their backs on the creature from roughly 6 yards away to get a photo with the bison in the background, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports. The National Park Service says the pair started to run when they heard the animal's footsteps, but it caught the woman and threw her in the air. The bison moved on after the woman's father came to her aid. Her family drove her to a clinic, where she was treated for minor injuries.
"The family said they read the warnings in both the park literature and the signage, but saw other people close to the bison, so they thought it would be OK," a ranger tells CNN. "People need to recognize that Yellowstone wildlife is wild, even though they seem docile. This woman was lucky that her injuries were not more severe." The park, which tells visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from the animals, usually sees only one or two such incidents a year, and the rise in attacks could also be linked to a rise in visitor numbers, a spokeswoman tells the AP. Two of the other people attacked—a 62-year-old Australian visitor and a 16-year-old girl from Taiwan—were also trying to take bison photos. (In more positive selfie news, a plus-size woman's "fierce" selfie has gone viral.)
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