A tourist in Poland was attacked by a bison after approaching it in the country’s Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Credit: Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- A tourist in Poland was attacked by a bison after approaching it in the Białowieża Forest
- The injured man was rescued by a nature photographer, who used his car to help him escape
- European bison are the continent’s largest land mammals and can weigh up to 2,000 pounds
A tourist in Poland was attacked by a bison after approaching the large animal in the wild.
In video footage shared by Polish news outlet TVP World and USA Today, a tourist can be seen approaching the massive bison in Poland’s famed Białowieża Forest, located on the country’s border with Belarus.
Witnesses told the local outlet that the man came within about 13 to 16 feet of the bison.
In the video, the man is on the ground as the bison stands over him after knocking him down, continuing to flick its tail. The unidentified man was eventually rescued by other visitors to the forest after the bison was distracted, the outlet reported.
Credit: Getty
Grzegorz Ryński, a nature photographer who witnessed and filmed the incident, said that he told the man not to move and eventually used his car to help him get away from the bison.
Ryński told private Polish broadcaster TVN24 that he got in his car and slowly approached the scene with one door open so the injured man could climb inside, per TVP World. The man ultimately met up with Ryński’s car once he had made it a safe distance from the animal.
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“We shouldn’t blame the bison. The man was actually very lucky because this particular animal was quite calm. There are much more aggressive individuals,” Ryński told TVN24, per TVP World.
Ryński’s wife, Aneta, was also present during the encounter. She said that the tourist apparently sustained a wound to his calf and was bruised.
“A bison is a wild animal. If a person gets too close, the animal may feel threatened and attack,” she added to the outlet.
According to Fota Wildlife Park in Ireland, the the European bison is the continent’s largest land mammal. Adults can weigh between 1,300 to 2,000 pounds, and stand at around 5.9 to 6.9 feet in height.
“Despite their size, they are surprisingly agile, capable of leaping over a three-meter-wide stream from a standing position,” the wildlife park states.
The Białowieża Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to an estimated 900 free-roaming bison, and the species is considered near threatened, with around 7,000 individual animals remaining in the world. Herds of European bison can be found in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and other parts of eastern Europe.
This incident comes on the heels of another shocking bison attack last month in the U.S.
A 65-year-old grandfather was attacked by an American bison at a campground in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park on July 10, the National Park Service previously confirmed to PEOPLE.
The elderly man was tossed about eight feet into the air and suffered from several broken bones. However, he did not approach the bison prior to the attack.
The National Park Service urges visitors to never approach wildlife and to maintain a distance of at least 25 yards from animals like bison and elk.
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