A woman visiting Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota was «severely injured» by bison over the weekend, park officials said.
The unidentified tourist from Minnesota was on the Painted Canyon Trailhead in the park when she was injured on Saturday.
Park staff were notified around 11 a.m. local time and park rangers, the Billings County Sheriff, along with emergency medical services responded, the National Parks service said in a statement. Press release.
“The woman sustained significant injuries to her abdomen and foot,” the statement said. Officials did not share details about what precipitated the incident or how the bison injured her.
«The incident is still under investigation and the exact details of what occurred are not known at this time,» the statement said.
First responders treated her at the scene until they could take her by ambulance to a hospital in Dickinson. She from there she was transported to a hospital in Fargo. Park officials said she was «last reported to be in serious but stable condition.»
The injury prompted the National Park Service to remind visitors that bison are «big, powerful and wild.»
“They can turn quickly and easily outrun humans. Bulls can be aggressive during the rutting season, from mid-July to August. Please be very careful and give them extra space during this time,» the statement said.
Per park regulations, visitors must be at least 25 yards — the length of two full-size buses — away from large animals, including bison, elk, deer and horses.
Just days after the bison incident at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a woman was gored by a bison Monday in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
The 47-year-old Phoenix woman suffered «significant injuries to her chest and abdomen» and was airlifted to a hospital, the park said in a statement. statement Monday.
She had walked away from the bison after she and the person she was with saw two of the animals, the National Park Service said, and one of the bison attacked. It is unclear how far away the woman was when the bison gave chase.
That incident remains under investigation.