Massive Bison Tosses Grandfather Several Feet into the Air at Yellowstone, Seriously Injuring the Tourist

“The bison was at least 6 feet tall,” said Mike Macleod after capturing the incident on video

NEED TO KNOW A man was thrown multiple feet into the air by an agitated bison at Yellowstone National Park In a video of the incident, the bison is seen rolling around in the dirt before charging after the victim and flipping him into the air "It's changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening," said photographer Mike MacLeod A man is recovering from injuries sustained in a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park. Photographer Mike MacLeod witnessed the man walking with his grandson before the incident occurred at the Bridge Bay Campground on Friday, July 10.

"The bison hooked him with his left horn on his hip and tossed him in the air," MacLeod recalled to Cowboy State Daily of the horrifying incident. "He made a perfect flip and landed on his side. The bison was at least 6 feet tall, and (the victim) was several feet above him."

In a video obtained by the outlet, the bison is seen rolling around in the dirt before appearing to settle down. After a white truck passes by, however, the bison immediately charges toward the nearby man and his grandson. Despite his attempt to run from the animal and hide behind trees, the animal catches up to the man and uses its head and horns to flip him into the air.

"I was just trying to get some dramatic footage of that bison having a fit," MacLeod said after capturing the incident on video. "It's changed my idea of what to expect from these guys at this time of year, because I would not have predicted that happening." The National Park Service has not released any information on the incident and did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily that the animal had charged at a group of kids "who were taking pictures on their cellphones from a good distance away" moments before the attack. After the bison appeared to have calmed down, the victim and his grandson walked by and snapped a few photos of the animal from what they thought was a safe distance.

The National Park Service recommends remaining at least 100 yards away from bears, wolves and cougars, and at least 25 yards away from all other animals, including bison and elk. "They weren't even in that camping loop," MacLeod recalled to Cowboy State Daily. "They were walking along the road, quite a ways away from the bison, and it started running at them."

"He was sitting in the dust, like bison do, with his head out towards the road," he continued. "When the bison started to get up, the grandfather's like, 'Okay, time to leave,' and they moved off behind these trees." However, a white pickup truck passing by reportedly set the animal off and caused it to chase the man until he was left with "some pretty significant injuries."

"I had to get the bison's attention," MacLeod said of the moments after the attack. "I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible." He said multiple people got involved in the aftermath of the incident, including one person alerting security and another calling 911.

Emphasizing that the bison attack was not the man's fault, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily that both the victim and his grandson were "very respectful" of the wildlife around them. "You can tell he was agitated, pissed off, and charging anything and everything," MacLeod said of the bison. "I've been around bison for a while, but this was really weird.

Why did it pick those two? There were so many people around, and most of them were closer to and behind the bison. It was really weird."

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