What's Going On In Yellowstone?

Given all the stupidity that seems to be running rampant in Yellowstone National Park recently, I have to ask: what's going on?

In case you're in the dark on what I'm referring to, here's a quick rundown on just some of the incidents that I'm aware of:

* Last year at least five people were injured when they got too close to bison - at least two of them were taking "selfies" at the time of their encounters.

* Another man fell into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone while attempting to take a picture of a sign at Grand View. He stumbled backwards over a stone barrier and fell 25 feet into the canyon, thus requiring a technical rescue.

* Several weeks ago a woman was videod while petting a bison in the park. 

* Earlier this week 4 men were caught walking on Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. Since then it was discovered that these 4 idiots are travel bloggers who are currently touring America. Although they apologized for their stupidity on their Facebook page, they are taking a well-deserved shellacking from the public. Apparently these guys have multiple offenses - even bragging about them on their social media outlets. Fortunately it appears that Yellowstone is going to try to throw the book at them.

* Finally, in perhaps the most audacious and wholly ignorant incident to occur in a national park in a long time (at least that I've heard of), a couple of tourists placed a bison calf in their SUV because they thought it looked cold! Unfortunately, a few days later, the calf had to be euthanized because its mother and/or the herd rejected it.

For additional reading, you may want to read this person's recent experience with the so-called "bear jams" in the park.

One can only conclude that our society has lost its collective mind. You could certainly argue we've lost our common sense. There's also a strain of narcissism that's running rampant among certain segments of our population as well.

So what can we do to help stop the madness? If you're visiting the park and you see someone endangering any animals, or the park itself - report them! Take photos of the people while in action, take photos of their car and their license plate, and then call the Yellowstone Park Tip Line at 307-344-2132 (or the general park phone number at 307-344-7381), or visit the nearest ranger office.

Responsible visitors need to take a stand and stop this stupidity.



Jeff
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