A woman in Texas who recorded a cellphone video of herself surviving getting gored by a bison has admonished fellow hikers about the perils of too closely encountering such an immense animal.
Rebecca Clark was on a solo hike in Caprock Canyons park, home of Texas’s state bison herd, when she came across a group of the massive bovines grazing a few feet away from the trail.
A cellphone video she posted to the social media platform TikTok showed her point of view as she tried to gingerly walk past. She initially appeared to have navigated the scene safely, but then one of the bison turned, lowered its head, snarled and rammed her.
“Oh shit!” Clark yells in the video, which has racked up more than 2m views since being posted on 12 October. “Oh oh my god! Oh my god, oh god!”
Clark explained in a follow-up video that the bison had gored her and thrown her into a nearby bush. She couldn’t call 911 because of poor phone service so she sent text messages to her family and friends, who alerted emergency responders.
Paramedics flew her by helicopter to a hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas, where Clark was treated for injuries that included a hole in her back, she said.
She said she posted about her ordeal to encourage hiking safety, and asked fellow TikTok users to help cover her medical bills.
“I was too close … passing them,” Clark wrote under the video clip.
Bison are North America’s largest land animals. They need to be at least 50 yards away from people to feel comfortable, according to recommendations from the Texas state parks and wildlife department cited by the Houston Chronicle.
Agency officials say hikers can determine if the distance from a bison is safe by closing an eye, stretching out an arm and covering up sight of the bison with a thumb.
The Texas agency also said raised tails, lowered heads and pawing at the ground – all of which the bison in Clark’s video exhibited – are indications of agitation and reasons to leave their proximity.
