Bison: I'd do it again

(kidding of course) Bison Press Conference

 

A grandfather who was violently hurled into the air by a bison at Yellowstone National Park has claimed the beast was actually quite gentle.

Carl McDaniel, 65, of Washington State, was attacked by the agitated bison at Bridge Bay Compound in the national park as he and his grandson were walking by at around 8.30pm on Friday.

Heart-stopping video of the attack showed the bull bison becoming frustrated and charging at McDaniel, chasing him through the trees.

Once the animal caught up to the great-grandfather, it hooked him with one of its horns and aggressively flung him into the air.

McDaniel broke his femur - the strongest bone in the body - in four places near his hip in the assault, but was already able to stand on Monday after undergoing surgery the day before, he told CNN.

'I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,' he said.

McDaniel, a community activist, then noted that the six-foot-tall animal could have easily killed him.

'When I was on the ground, immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me,' he recounted. '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.'

It remains unclear what may have provoked the beast to attack the grandfather on Friday evening, but the terrifying encounter came amid bison mating season when the males of the species have increased testosterone levels.

The bison had already been roaming the campground and charging at other campers - including a group of teenage boys who were able to run away from the area - in the moments before McDaniel and his grandson passed by.

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