Alex Wypyszinski loves photographing nature, and luckily had his camera at the ready when nature, in the form of a grizzly bear and a bison, came charging down the road at him one morning in Yellowstone National Park. The bear was chasing down bison, which was badly burned from an encounter with one of the area's many thermal feature. "I'm never without two cameras," Wypyszinski said, "just in case." The photos, which some initially believed were too incredible to be real, were taken in May of this year. The chase took place on the Grand Loop highway in the Lower Geyser Basin – a region filled with geysers, thermal springs and hot spots. Wypyszinski generally prefers photographing wildflowers, because "they hold still for ya", but recognized the uniqueness of the scene he was witnessing. He is an employee at Old Faithful Post Office, and his wife works at the nearby Old Faithful Clinic. This was their eighth summer working in the park. Over the years, he has come to believe that Yellowstone is the best place in the world to see wildlife. He had stopped his car in the middle of the road to take a landscape photograph, when he heard the animals approaching. The road he was on is one of the few highways through the park, but was empty at that hour of the morning. He snapped a series of photos, climbed into his car as the bison and the hungry bear neared, and got back out to continue taking pictures after they passed. "I could've touched them from the window," he said. The situation seemed safe enough because the animals were moving so quickly and showed no interest in him. "I've seen plenty of bear, and more buffalo, but I've never seen anything like that before," Wypyszinski told KAJ18 Montana. The bison escaped into the trees, but was eventually put down by the National Park Service because of its severe injuries. Wypyszinski says it is entirely possible the bison was later eaten by a different bear, since the carcasses are often placed back into the wilderness for scavengers to feed on.
These amazing photos came from Yellowstone National Park where a wounded bison was running for its life from a hungry grizzly.
