A file image of a Buffalo in California's Catalina Island.
© GettyA file image of a Buffalo in California's Catalina Island.
A man who was camping at Little Harbor Campground on Catalina Island was injured after being gored by a bison the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 17, police said.

The incident occurred at about 5:15 p.m. when the man was sitting on a log and a bison was grazing nearby, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Ray Ward.

"When the man saw that the (animal) was getting closer to him, he got up and tried to move away," he said. "That's when (it) charged him and gored him in his left arm."

Los Angeles Fire Department officials treated the man at the scene and he was later airlifted to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Ward said.

Bison are common and roam freely on the back side of Catalina Island where the campground is located, he said.

"But it's very rare for them to attack," Ward said. "People even forget sometimes that they are wild because they appear domesticated."

The nature and extent of the man's injuries were not immediately known.