Making memories during a trip to a U.S. National Park might include the perfect photo. But make sure that perfect photo doesn't harm you or the wildlife.
TouronsOfYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) is an Instagram account dedicated to showcasing the numerous instances of people being disrespectful and sometimes downright thoughtless when visiting National Parks.
They shared a video from Scott Hansen (@clickpawl_sdh), who witnessed a park visitor getting much too close to the bison at Yellowstone. In the clip, a shirtless man is crouched at the side of the road taking a picture of a bison. If you look closely, you can see that he is also wearing what appear to be slides or slippers.
This tourist is much too close to the wild animal, and his attire will do little to protect him if the bison decides to charge.
Yellowstone does a lot of work to educate park visitors about the dangers of wild animals. There are signs posted around the park, and their official website explains: "The safest (and often best) view of wildlife is from inside a car. Always stay at least 100 yards (91 meters) away from bears and wolves, and at least 25 yards (23 meters) away from all other animals, including bison and elk."
A distance of 25 yards is around 75 feet — approximately two school buses away.
Parks like Yellowstone get up to 4 million visitors a year, so it can become challenging to protect people and wildlife.
One study conducted an educational assessment, finding that when messaging focused more on visitor experience than wildlife safety, people were more likely to follow guidelines. A shift in messaging may go a long way to help protect the incredible wildlife that inhabit our national parks.
Commenters on the post were disappointed to see this behavior. One person said: "And you're going to outrun him in flip-flops??"
Someone else wrote: "Do these people think the bison are their friends, are they the bison whisperers?"
Another person reminded us: "I guess he is not aware that his big lens can capture a nice shot from a respectable distance…in his car!"
If you ever make it to a National Park, please be careful and stay in your car.
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