Woman attacked by bison in same Utah park as her date had been

A bison walks in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, U.S. on August 10, 2011Image copyright
Reuters

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A bison seen in Yellowstone National Park

A man who was gored by a bison in June took a date back to the same place – only for her also to be attacked.

Kyler Bourgeous brought Kayleigh Davis to the same trail at a state park in Utah with plans to watch the sunset.

But when Ms Davis ran a little ahead, she ended up alone with a bison who charged and flipped her into the air.

She is recovering from a broken ankle in hospital, local media reported. In the earlier attack he had suffered a cracked rib and collapsed lung.

The latest incident happened on an established trail in Antelope Island State Park.

Witnesses reported seeing a bison strike Ms Davis with its head, “lifting her off the ground”.

The 22-year-old was airlifted to hospital in Ogden, Utah.

Ms Davis told local media she had run ahead of Mr Bourgeous on the trail when she saw the bison.

“I was uncomfortable standing there by myself, especially after hearing his story,” she told KSL TV on Sunday.

But when she tried to run away from it, four cyclists happened to come down the trail and “spooked” it.

The bison charged her and flipped her 15ft (4.5m) in the air, she said.

Image copyright
GoFundMe/Kyler Bourgeous

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Kyler Bourgeous was gored by a bison in June

Mr Bourgeous, 30, faced a similar situation when he was gored, months earlier. He had reached the summit of the park’s highest point – a familiar trail for him – when he saw two bison. One immediately charged at him as he tried to back away.

The bison’s horns gored his torso. The animal then trampled him and kicked his head.

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“I thought my incident was a freak accident with really bad luck with the positioning, and that we’d be fine going back out there,” Mr Bourgeous told KSL TV.

Mr Bourgeous and Ms Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

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Media captionBison charges at nine-year-old girl at Yellowstone National Park

Ms Davis is the second bison-related injury at Antelope Island this year.

Antelope Island staff say visitors who encounter bison on the trails should “back away and return the way you came, or leave the trail and give the animal a very wide berth when passing it”.

source: bbc.com