Wanting to be close to nature and wildlife is admirable and sometimes even beneficial, but it's important to respect the rules for the safety of both humans and nature.
An alarming number of people are far too eager to get close to large animals in national parks, similar to an instance recently shared by a poster on Reddit.
In the r/Banff subreddit, dedicated to Canada's Banff National Park, someone shared a photo of a person standing out of their car and taking a photo of a bear at the side of the road.
The bear and the tourist can't be more than 100 feet apart, putting the parkgoer at risk of a sudden attack. The poster titled the photo: "Tourists being tourists."
Human and bear encounters in parks are all too common and often result in injury or even death for both parties. For example, as of August, officials had to euthanize 22 bears in the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area this year because they became "public safety risks," according to 6News, and there are similar instances across the country and in Canada.
The safety risk often stems from food conditioning, which is when wild bears become too accustomed to human food and seek it out in places like campsites and trash cans, where dangerous encounters can occur.
Losing bears has an impact on the environment. They are predators controlling deer and the populations of other prey species, as well as being integral omnivores spreading plant
and berry seeds through their poop, according to the National Park Service.
Commenters were upset at the danger the bear was in due to the person's curiosity.
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"I honestly don't understand how more people don't get killed doing s*** like this," someone wrote.
Another highlighted how deceptive the relative distance is for the tourist: "That bear can close the distance in less than 2 seconds. Won't have time to react."
"I'm a wildlife photographer and there's a reason I shoot with big long expensive lenses," another pointed out. " It allows us to get good pics from a long distance."
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