No matter who you are or where you travel, getting the perfect photo is never worth risking your life or the well-being of wildlife.
In a viral video, Instagrammer Touronsofnationalparks (@touronsofnationalparks) shared a scene with tourists lining up to get out of their cars and snap pictures of bears walking by at a dangerously close distance.
In the video, you can hear loud vehicle engines roaring, someone's dog barking at the bears, and a person yelling at the crowd to stop approaching the bears.
"Very stressful moment watching people outside of their cars approach grizzly bear 399 and her cub. Please share and educate these people," wrote the original poster.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, humans should "always remain at least 100 yards (300 feet) away, or about the length of a football field."
Although most bears will avoid humans as much as possible, overcrowding in national parks is making that more challenging. Bears in national parks are wild and unpredictable, and humans in large groups intimidate them.
Tourists' reckless behavior around bears and other wild animals is all too common these days, sparking outrage among environmentalists and community members who respect nature. Not only are humans getting too close to bears in national parks, but bears are starting to unnaturally rely on human trash for food and dying off in devastating record numbers.
One Instagram user commented on the video: "OMG!! Grizzlies run SO fast! They can tear people to shreds!"
🗣️ Should national parks be allowed to ban visitors for bad behavior?
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🔘 NO 👎
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"Most invasive species in the world is humans," wrote another Instagrammer.
The comment section is also filled with questions about why tourists can't just keep a safe distance from the bears or at least use zoom lenses on their cameras to photograph them if they fancy themselves as nature photographers.
"Do they realize that if that bear stresses and attacks one of them, the bear will probably be put down! And it will be on them," another Instagrammer wrote.
Another comment exclaims: "Can't people just leave wildlife alone?!! We've done enough damage."
A bystander holds their breath after capturing video of the tourists and said: "Can't people just leave wildlife alone?"
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