3 Men Were Camping. Then They Heard: 'Help, Help'

An Alaska man is recovering after being attacked by a bison while hiking in western North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Park official Eileen Andes says the 65-year-old hiker encountered the large animal on a trail after taking photos of a sunset. He tried to walk around the bison but didn't provide a wide-enough berth, reports the Minot Daily News. The bison apparently threw the man into a bush, knocking him unconscious, Andes says. When the man regained consciousness, he was bleeding from a leg laceration but made his way to the trailhead. When he saw more bison, he climbed several feet up a butte.

"The guy kept yelling, 'Help, help, and help,'" says Christopher Velazquez, one of three airmen from Minot Air Force Base who were camping nearby and heard the man's faint calls. The airmen and another camper rushed to help when the bison moved to the back of the hill, the AP reports. Airman Jake Nixon said the hiker had stuffed his socks into his wound, but that the socks and his pants were covered in blood. Their fellow rescuer tied his shirt around the hiker's wound to stop the bleeding. The hiker was treated at a hospital and released. (The American bison was named as the official US national mammal last year.)