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Australian tourist gored at Yellowstone
Source: DPA|Published: Tuesday July 11, 6:18 AM

IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO: An Australian man was gored by a buffalo which attacked a group of tourists in Yellowstone National Park in the US, park officials said today.

The 67-year-old Australian suffered deep wounds to his upper thigh, a possible cracked leg bone and a nicked artery in the attack yesterday. He was flown to a hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he was in a stable condition today.

Officials did not know why the bison attacked the group near the Old Faithful geyser at the largest visitors' centre of the renowned national park. The animal escaped.

The buffalo, which weighed nearly a tonne and can run at speeds up to 50kmh, charged right after the tourists got off their tour bus and were standing on a footpath.

Most of the group, including the victim's wife, were able to escape by jumping on and over a nearby log fence.

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Comment:
Huh??? SK? Enquiring minds want answers... Is this a developing trend? >:)

Concerned Down Under

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), July 10, 2000

Answers

I don't think it's a developing trend unless the American BISON are united.Maybe he was just having an off day,and was sick up and fed with tourists.Perhaps he had endured one camera flash too many.Who can say what goes thru the mind of a Bison.

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), July 10, 2000.

Dan, It's ok to call them buffalo, we've done so for hundreds of years. Sure its not politically correct and the bison aren't true "buffalo's), but they're OUR buffalo's ;)

I sat at a river bank surrounded by a herd of about 300 buffalo in the Badlands of ND once. Park Rangers state that these animals can be very dangerous, yet some people even try to put their kids on top of them in the national parks...

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), July 10, 2000.

Maybe a certain rodent king bit him? Shhhh. You didn't hear that from me.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), July 10, 2000.

Yellowstone park personnel have an annual betting pool trying to guess the date of the first goring.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), July 10, 2000.

Ain't it the truth factfinder.Most people think that animals in Parks are tame.I have seen a picture of a guy feeding a sandwich to a grizzly bear.The caption under the picture read "Flirting with death".

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), July 10, 2000.

Pieter --

Yes -- I believe it is a developing trend: not many years ago I remember reading prophecies of end times scenarios in which it was forecast that animals would begin to attack and antagonize man -- the words I think were "turn against" mankind. I think there has been an increase in wild animal attacks recently, but again it may simply be the access lto stories that the internet probvides. Attributable to? increased solar activity? weakening earth magnetic field? Or -- devic retaliation?

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), July 10, 2000.

When fully investigated, my money's on it having been a squirrel (a big squirrel) in a buffalo outfit.

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), July 10, 2000.

No, it's not a developing trend. Been going on for years. I used to work in Yellowstone, still know people that do, done five backpacking trips there, been skiing there two winters out of the last four. The stories I could tell you regarding bear, bison (and, occasionally, deer) attacks would be numerous. And, generally would reflect the nature of human stupidity.

When there is a large (probably in this case, male) Bison standing anywhere around, one walks carefully, and generally in the opposite direction. You really, really don't want to upset those critters (or any critter weighing about 10 times as much as you do). They can do serious damage if they get even a little excited and run the wrong way.

The only reason it made the papers in OZ, is that there are probably few OZ tourist that got hit by Bison in Yellowstone in the past. In the US, a bison goring in Yellowstone is, at best, local news only.

-- E.H. Porter (Just Wondering@About.it), July 10, 2000.

>> Is this a developing trend? <<

On a week-over-week basis, the number of bison-related Australian tourist gorings has gone up alarmingly, when tracked over the past decade. The Australian Embassy has issued a tourist advisory, warning Australians to avoid all horned, herbivorous mammals in the Wyoming area whose weight is measured in tonnage, until further notice.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), July 10, 2000.

it was probably a case of "who are you staring at mate" get off my turf

any bovine type males are pretty territorial

-- richard (richard.dale@onion.com), July 11, 2000.

We're all going to die.

-- FutureShock (gray@matter.think), July 11, 2000.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Ah memory,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), July 11, 2000.

Good Morning America,

"The only reason it made the papers in OZ, is that there are probably few OZ tourist that got hit by Bison in Yellowstone in the past..."

Answer - This is evidence of what we've long feared - Australians are leaving OZ in numbers large enough to get themselves gored. Some people leave OZ to make the news.

"On a week-over-week basis, the number of bison-related Australian tourist gorings has gone up alarmingly..."

Answer - Very droll indeed...lol

This thread is a tad unusual and proof TB2K spin-off is odd, but habitable.

Regards from Down Under

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), July 11, 2000.

Pieter -- perhaps it would be cost effective to send some Bison "down under." Then, you all could get gored without having to spend all that money to come to the States.

After all, in Yellowstone, getting gored seems to be a major tourist activity. Perhaps there is an opportunity to be had here?

-- E.H. Porter (Just Wondering@About.it), July 11, 2000.

I don't recall any stories about Australians being gored by buffalo last year at this time.

Therefore, this must have been due to Y2K. Perhaps it was a non-compliant buffalo.

I believe there was also some chemtrail spraying in the area that day.

THE BUFFALO CANNOT BE FIXED!!!

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), July 11, 2000.

E.H., - Thanks for offering your spare bisons to OZ. Regret to inform the place already features sundry 'bisons' in drag. They inhabit Parliament House at Canberra, also referred to as the bearpit. Their specialty is goring each other, plunging knives in backs, and ripping into the great OZ unwashed with new taxes inclusive. We sent a bunch overseas but they returned. Can't seem to get 'em to remain elsewhere. Bloody boomerangs! Sheesh!

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), July 11, 2000.

Well, humm . . . my friends in veterinary medicine assure me that those buffalo CAN be fixed. Apparently, you just sedate them (or restrain them), grab the testicles, get a sharp knife, and so forth. Im told that with any male animal with testicles large enough to grab, its incredibly easy. Slit, Grab, Cut. Easy in; easy out.

Perhaps if this procedure had been tried on Milne, Yourdon, North, etc. in about 1998, things would have been different. But, I suppose it would have been difficult to get them to volunteer for it, even if theyd been assured it would cure the Y2K fears they were experiencing.

-- E.H. Porter (Just Wondering@About.it), July 12, 2000.

Different how Porter? A few less forums on the internet maybe? Best I can tell not enough people paid enough attention to Yourdon, Milne & North to matter a bit. Good fodder for the jokes of a few around here but little else. As Jack would say, "We keep you alive to serve this ship."

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), July 12, 2000.