Australian man hospitalized after being tossed in the air by Yellowstone bison

American Bison (also known as Buffalo) join the morning commute on Highway 89 at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming on June 1, 2011. In the early 1800’s, an estimated 65 million bison roamed throughout the continent of North America but hunting and poaching had a devastating effect on their population and by 1890, fewer than 1,000 […]

by: Tribune Media Wire

Posted: Jun 6, 2016 / 02:36 PM MDT

Updated: Jun 6, 2016 / 05:19 PM MDT

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Editor’s note: This happened in 2015, but the story recently went viral on social media.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Yellowstone National Park Park rangers have been saying it for years, but, apparently, it needs repeating: Stay away from the wild animals.

The second park visitor in three weeks to ignore the warnings was a 62-year-old Australian man, who was hospitalized Tuesday after trying to photograph a Yellowstone bison with his iPad, KTVQ reports.

The man had to be airlifted to a hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries, park officials said in a statement.

The man was not the only person too close to the animal — there was a group of people reportedly crowding around the bison as it lay near a path not far from Old Faithful Lodge around 11 a.m.

The man came within three to five feet of the bison, taking photos with his iPad when the animal charged.

The 2,000-pound animal tossed him into the air several times before dropping him and leaving, officials said.

This comes just two weeks after a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl was gored by a bison in the park. She was also standing a few feet away, and turned her back on the animal to have her photo taken with it when she was gored. The girl had to be hospitalized and is now recovering.

Earlier this year, a woman was caught on camera being charged by an elk in Yellowstone after she came too close to the animal, while taking photos. In the video uploaded on May 29, she is standing about 25 feet away from the elk, when it rushes her, knocking the woman to the ground. Fortunately, she walked away with just a scare and a valuable lesson.

Another highly-publicized incident at Yellowstone resulted in the death of a bison calf after a Canadian father and son put the animal in their vehicle, concerned that it was in danger from the cold. Although rangers made the two bring the calf back, it was rejected by the herd and had to be euthanized on May 16 after it continuously approached humans and began wandering on roadways.

A federal magistrate later imposed $735 in fines, fees and compensation on the man.

A powerful photo taken in early May of 2015 by a Missouri man shows a bison slamming its head into the skull of a man lying on a Yellowstone path.

With the ability to run three times as fast as a human, bison are an often overlooked danger to those who don’t follow park rules.

Yellowstone regulations prohibit visitors from approaching wildlife and say you should stay at least 25 yards away from large animals, and 100 yards away from bears and wolves, according to the National Park Service website.