A bison gored a 12-year-old visitor near Mud Volcano in Yellowstone National Park on Friday, sending emergency medical personnel to take the child to a nearby hospital. The incident remained under investigation.
The injury is the latest reminder of why Yellowstone National Park Bison Safety rules are written so plainly: visitors are told to keep at least 25 yards from bison, even though the animals roam freely and can turn without warning. The child was the first person injured by a free-roaming ungulate in Yellowstone this year.
That matters because bison have injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal, and there have been at least eight bison gorings in the park since 2022. Almost every year, at least one visitor is hurt. Last summer, two people were gored. One was a man from Cape Coral, Florida, who sustained minor injuries after approaching a bison too closely. Another was a 30-year-old man from New Jersey who got too close to a bison and was transported by emergency medical personnel.
Mud Volcano sits north of Fishing Bridge, one of the park’s busier areas, and that geography is part of what makes these incidents so hard to prevent: the danger is not hidden, and the rule is not complicated. Stay 25 yards away from bison. Stay 100 yards from bears and wolves. Yet the park keeps seeing the same pattern, with visitors closing distance until an animal reacts.
For the 12-year-old, the open question is not where the injury happened. It is how serious it was once the child reached the hospital. Park officials have not said that, and the investigation is still open. What is clear is that the park’s closest encounters with bison remain the ones most likely to end badly.
