Utah man gored and seriously injured by bison he tried to pet admits he’s ‘definitely an idiot in this scenario’

A Utah man was brutally gored by a bison last month when he went to pet it in an idiotic move, he quickly realized, that left him with a lacerated liver and an 8-inch gash.

Halen Carbajal was severely injured during the stunning attack, though he admitted he was the “idiot in this scenario” for approaching the bison on his way home from an early Thanksgiving with his girlfriend.

He noticed the herd of bison on a neighbor’s property and decided to get a closer look.

“I was definitely an idiot in this scenario. I crossed through the fence. I started walking back near the fence,” Carbajal explained to KUTV. “By the time I got back to the fence, he had followed me all the way over, and I was like ‘oh that’s pretty cool.’

“I kind of did want to pet him, so I was just being naïve about the whole thing, so I did that, and yeah he just rocked me pretty good.”

He described to the station how the animal dipped his head down right before his horn punctured him and flipped him over. He quickly escaped despite being badly hurt.

Carbajal suffered an 8-inch gash to the stomach, a broken rib, a lacerated liver and a banged-up lung, according to a GoFundMe page created to help with his medical bills.

He was airlifted to the ICU where he spent seven days in the hospital and is now home recovering.

“Halen is one of the best and most selfless people I know,” the fundraiser states.

“He just finished a season working with the Utah Conservation Corps and he relies on his physical health for the kinds of work he does.”

A spokesperson for the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, Faith Heaton-Jolley, told KUTV that because the bison look like cows, there is a common misconception they’re domestic or friendly when they are in fact wild animals who can be aggressive.

“It was for sure a reality check or recognizing my naivety and thinking it would be fine to try and touch one, and just realizing that you got to have a lot more reverence for big crazy beasts like that,” Carbajal told the station.

“You have to have a lot more reverence for big crazy beasts like that you know.”