Video and eyewitness accounts reveal what provoked a Yellowstone bull to attack a vehicle during the early weeks of the annual bison rut.
Published July 24, 2026 05:29 pm
Traffic in crowded Yellowstone National Park was halted earlier this week after a bison attacked a vehicle as its driver tried to weave through a maze of cars. On July 20, video footage showed a bull bison charging through bumper-to-bumper traffic. As a car drove past, the animal attacked, slashing the tire with its horn.
“The bison was just wandering around on the road. All the cars have stopped and he’s just minding his own business,” said Troy Isdahl, who was visiting the park from North Dakota. Outside. When the Bison left the road, the car in front of Isdahl moved forward, then applied its brakes.
“I think Bison took offense to it,” Troy said.
Moments later, the animal lowered its head and collided with the front passenger side tire of the vehicle. Isdal’s wife, tonya namecaptured the encounter on video from behind the vehicle in his passenger seat.
“can you hear pfft And just watch the tire go down,” Namon said Outside.
roughly with 5,000 bisonIn a large—and even more touristy—park, this incident illustrates one of the most important safety lessons in Yellowstone: Even calm-looking animals can react quickly when they sense danger. Earlier this month, a bison attacked a 65-year-old man and then tossed him eight feet into the air. In June, a 12-year-old child was injured near mud volcano And was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment of injuries.
According to witnesses, the attacking bull was on the road in Hayden Valley, located in the center of the park, an area where large numbers of bison gather when mating season begins in late summer. During this time, mature bulls compete for mates and defend their personal space more aggressively than at other times of the year.
Isdahl said there were two bulls in the area at the time of the incident, the other being a short distance from the road. But he didn’t think the animal was seeking confrontation. From their perspective, the bull reacted after the driver got too close to its head.
“It was just bison talking. It could have been much worse,” he said. Isdahl and his wife continued driving to help clear traffic after the encounter. They also knew that it was safe to keep distance from the animal.
“We knew a ranger would come,” Isdahl said. “But no one is going to get a kick out of bison roaming around.”
