On July 12, 2026, the X account Breaking911 posted a brief account of a bison attack in Yellowstone National Park, stating that a tourist was seriously injured after being tossed about 8 feet into the air and that the incident was filmed by photographer Mike Macleod. The post accumulated tens of millions of views, making it a significant viral claim worth verifying against independent reporting.
Cowboy State Daily published a detailed article on July 11, 2026, describing the same incident. According to that outlet, the attack took place on Friday evening, July 10, 2026, at Bridge Bay Campground, south of Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone. A bull bison entered the campground agitated and began charging people. The victim, a man walking with his grandson, was eventually targeted. The photographer on the scene is identified as Mike MacLeod, a professional photographer from Bozeman, Montana, who was camping at the site. MacLeod described the bison as "angry, agitated and charging anything and everything" and said the animal hooked the man with its left horn on his hip, flipping him through the air. The article notes the bison was at least 6 feet tall and that the victim was "several feet above him" at the peak of the toss, consistent with the claim's "about 8 feet" figure (one photo caption mentions 20 feet, but the eyewitness's quoted description better supports the more conservative estimate).
The victim sustained serious injuries. MacLeod reported that the man landed on his side and was in significant pain, particularly in his hips and one leg, though no external bleeding was visible. Yellowstone EMS arrived and transported him. MacLeod later spoke with the victim's grandson, who said his grandfather "has some pretty significant injuries and is not out of the woods yet." The National Park Service had not released any official information as of the article's publication.
The claim's reference to "about 8 feet" aligns with the eyewitness account. The photographer's name is spelled "Macleod" in the viral post and "MacLeod" in the news report, a harmless spelling variant that does not change the substance. The location, date, nature of the injuries, and the role of the photographer all match. While the claim is somewhat sparse in context, its central assertions are independently confirmed by on-the-ground reporting from Cowboy State Daily, which interviewed the photographer directly and reviewed the video.
One important caveat: this was Yellowstone's second human-bison incident of 2026, the first having occurred on June 26 near Mud Volcano, where a 12-year-old was injured. The bison rut season, which runs from June through September, is cited as the likely biological driver of the animal's aggression. The Bridge Bay attack is, however, a separate event from the earlier June incident, and the claim correctly refers only to the July 10 attack.
