Utah woman says bison flipped her into air, broke her ankle

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kayleigh Davis was hiking on a trail Friday evening at Antelope Island State Park in Utah chasing the sunset, when she was suddenly, violently, flipped into the air by a bison.

When she looked up, the bison was hovering over her. The 22-year-old woman screamed as the large, shaggy animal sniffed her and dug in its hooves before eventually leaving her alone, KSL-TV reports.

The incident left her with a broken ankle and a gash on her leg.

It’s not clear what prompted the bison to charge Davis.

Davis said she spotted the bison about a quarter mile (0.4 kilometers) ahead of her off the trail. She froze, turned around, and ran toward her friend.

“I go around the bison, like off the trail away from him, and there’s actually four bikers coming down the trail and I think they had spooked him.”

The friend Davis was with, Kyler Bourgeous, was also attacked by a bison on the island in June, said Lt. Eric Stucki with Utah State Parks.

Those bison attacks are the only two reported on the island this year, but Stucki doesn’t believe either victim “did anything out of the ordinary” to antagonize the bison, he said.
Friday was Bourgeous’s first time back on the island after being attacked.

“I thought my incident was a freak accident with really bad luck with the positioning, and that we’d be fine going back out there,” he said.

Antelope Island wildlife include hundreds of bison. The state park is connected to the Great Salt Lake’s southeastern shore by a 7-mile (11-kilometer) causeway.
Davis and Bourgeous said they don’t have future dates planned at the island.

As of Monday afternoon, Davis was still recovering from her injuries at a hospital in northern Utah.