What do you think of what is going on in our National Parks, especially Yellowstone. One man

[debm55]

"rescued" a buffalo calf. The calf latter had to be put down. Another woman had walked up to a cow buffalo to take selfies. I have been to Yellowstone and there are signs posted all over to either stay in your car until the herd leaves the road or stay very far away. Another man jumped over a fence almost falling 300 ft into the canyon. What is with these people? Is taking a selfie and posting online that important? Thank you.

[marble falls]

1. We have nation of entitled people who feel all rules have exceptions for them. Fine the bejeebers...

... out of them and ban them from the parks.

[debm55]

2. I wish they would. When I was at Yellowstone, I saw an elk surrounded by people with their I-phones

as a man was trying to put his daughter on the elk. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

[Hekate]

10. Yes

[hatrack]

32. And a shitload of them who believe that the world is Disneyland . . .

Hint: it isn't.

[marble falls]

40. In '75 I was in Yellowstone, staying in a motorhome in a campground. A buffalo walked into the ...

... area and up to a picnic table I was sitting at (I had a cast on my leg from my butt to my toes). I got up an watched him get closer. He came up within 6 ft of me. A green park truck zoomed up, slammed brakes about 50ft from me, the rangers jumped out and instead of doing what I thought they would do: walk up and 'shoo it', jumped out of the truck, ran around and put their truck between them and the animal. Which let me know I was in a very bad place to be.

After about the longest five minutes of my life trying to figure that with a table between us, could I get cast, cane and all make it under the camper before he could get me, he got bored and walked away.

I learnt an easy lesson: this was not Disneyland and that bull was freaking huge.

On July 29, three days later, I read in the Yellowstone paper that two French tourists were standing close enough to a bull while taking a photo of one next to the bull, when the camera clicked, the bull hooked the tourist and threw him, and he was in hospital. A month later, on Aug 28 - my birthday- while in Missoula, I read that tourist died that morning.

I didn't approach that buff, but I definitely should have retreated in the the minute or so I had.

If people want an animal experience they need to go to the petting zoo, no buff, but no dying, either.

Since then I've changed my attitude about using animals for entertainment: No circuses, no rodeos and a major change on how and what zoos are for.

[hlthe2b]

3. Even before the era of selfies, stupid people died frequently in Yellowstone or put animals at risk

There should be a no-tolerance for such behavior, but I recall many years when people would attempt to put their toddlers on the back of a bison to get a picture, allow their kids to stick their feet in scalding thermal pools, fell drunk and die in those same thermal features as they walked off the well-signed boardwalks, and, as at the Grand Canyon, would walk off cliff precipice while distracted.

Not new, but with more people come more ignorant visitors. I do think they need to be charged for incidents that place wildlife at risk in addition to those that show negligence toward their own or other people's safety.

[debm55]

6. I agree. At the Grand Canyon, I witnessed people doing handstands on some of the outcropings. They

climbed over the fence and were sitting or doing handstands. Scared the heck out of me.

[Mariana]

17. It's wild how people think this kind of thing never happened before cellphones.

[debm55]

21. Yes, it did happen,but not to the extent that is going on now. Have you been to the National Parks

lately.? Alot of people want that perfect dangerous shot .

[we can do it]

27. It's been happening since we've been going to parks in the eighties, don't think it was new then.

Oh and it’s been a week home from our 4 national park trip. Will be in Glacier NP next month…..

[debm55]

36. WoW, you are lucky. I hit all the National Parks from Mexico to Canada. Bryce was my favorite.

[we can do it]

37. Really like Bryce, but Glacier is my favorite, edging out Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.

[electric_blue68]

38. Ohhhh.. that makes my stomach twinge! ..

"and, as at the Grand Canyon, would walk off cliff precipice while distracted."

😳😧

Omg, I've been there at the GC in '79. So amazing, and beautiful, AND I stayed about 4' ft at least back from any unfenced edge!

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Borderline narcissistic sociopathic thrill seekers

As a society, we breed them. Rules do not apply. There are no consequences. Don't worry. Be happy.

[Javaman]

8. +1000 nt

[I_UndergroundPanther]

25. Agree

Wish we could find a way to dump something in the water supply to stop the entitled asshole people ,a chemical to cause empathy,and respect,conscientiousness in all these assholes.

[bucolic_frolic]

26. They don't care. "No one goes through life unscathed" is the latest meme.

So scars, broken limbs, tattoos, amputations don't matter to them. As long as you can say you did what you wanted to do, it's entirely self-justified. This is the Reagan ME generation. No responsibilities. Prosperity is what counts, and the only thing that counts. If you want 12 donuts a day, that's what you get. I think the food has gone to their heads.

[Ocelot II]

5. People have been doing that kind of stupid shit since well before selfies.

When visiting Yellowstone in the mid '60s with my family, I saw a guy approaching a black bear (they are all over the place, looking for garbage); fortunately he backed away when the bear moved toward him. My dad very sternly reminded us kids to stay the hell away from the bears. There were signs all over the place about not approaching wildlife but some people are just stupid. It would seem that too many of our stupider hunter-gatherer ancestors managed to avoid being eaten and thus removed from the gene pool.

[debm55]

11. Dare you say anything to these people as I did. Little kids running across the boardwalk near Old

Faithful knocking people around. I stopped one and told him that it was dangerous and he could get hurt. Dad comes up to me and tells me off for "yelling" at his kid.

[EndlessWire]

7. They're stupid.

But I think the park could have tried harder with that calf.

[marybourg]

13. They said they tried repeatedly

To return the calf but it was a newborn, the herd had not bonded with it yet, and with the human smell on it the mother probably read it as damaged.

[debm55]

14. Yes, I read that. Most people know that a mother animal will reject it's baby with human scent on it

They looked for the herd, but it was gone.

[debm55]

15. I agree

[Hekate]

9. Idiots. Their ilk have been doing similar stunts since the first city slicker wandered into a zoo...

…and tried to feed the big kitty a meat-snack out of his hand.

[padfun]

12. That's how we thin the herd.

Before lifesaving procedures and rules, we used to let stupid people do stupid things to keep our gene pool cleaner.

[Mariana]

16. Do you really think this kind of thing never happened until recently?

I swear, some of you really should read a few newspapers from 50 or 100 years ago. None of this is new, except the ease of taking pictures and video and posting it on the internet. Back in the day, the idiot who thought the baby bears were just so cute, or the fool who got drunk and fell off a cliff got a few lines back on page 8.

[debm55]

22. I'll answer your question, no they did it before. Have you been to any National Parks lately?

I answered your same question twice. Can you please answer mine-have you been to the National Parks lately. Since you didn't answer earlier I take it you haven't been to Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Thank you

[WhiskeyGrinder]

18. Twas ever thus. It's just easier to hear about it now.

[Xolodno]

19. Lot of stupid people.

There are really old photos at Glacier Point in Yosemite doing handstands on it. So, the stupid goes back for quite some time.

Furthermore, people really don't have a concept of "wild outdoors". They think the animals are domesticated, one ranger in Yellowstone relayed to me a story were a woman asked when did they let the animals out, like it was some sort of zoo.

Some even demand extra's like having KFC or McDonalds developed into the area.

One time my brother and I ran into a person with his family hiking about half a mile up a six mile trail that started at 7k feet and went to 9k feet to an alpine lake. He asked how far to the lake, told him he was nowhere near it. He then asked how much longer, then we told him we started early in the morning, stayed up there for about a couple of hours and headed back (it was late afternoon by this point). Then he says he's going to try and make it, we looked at him and said, where is his water, showed us a small water bottle. We had 100 oz in our day/overnight packs. Told him he wouldn't make it and he sneered at us.

I've been to many National and State parks and hiked many of their trails. But just like when people go to a theme park, soon as they check in, their brain checks out.

[marybourg]

20. Nothing new. In 1990, I warned a large family group to stay

much further away from a bison herd than they were. They ignored me. An hour later, when returning to the park, 11 ambulances passed us going out. Yep. The big family group.

[usonian]

23. Idiots got to show off.

[ZonkerHarris]

24. They are giving away Darwin Awards like Participation Trophy's nowadays.

[Brother Buzz]

28. John Dutton, in Yellowstone, kinda, sorta, showed us the idiot tourist mentality

[debm55]

29. I never watched the show until you discussed it in the Lounge. Thank you for turning me on to it,

Brother Buzz.

[Brother Buzz]

30. I discussed it in the Lounge?

I've never seen the series. I only know about that scene, and the motorcycle gang encounter through the mysterious YouTube algorithm thingy. I'm suspect YouTube prompted me because I viewed a boatload of Jack Reacher uploads.

[debm55]

31. Sorry--Somebody did?

[Brother Buzz]

33. It looks like it merits a watch, but I'm cable TV challenged

[debm55]

35. Do you have a tablet. I stream shows on my tablet, play games too.

[SWBTATTReg]

34. Unfortunately it happens all of the time. People want to get that 'special picture' or some other

stupid excuse, ends up killing themselves. Preserve and protect the parks for all of us for the future!

[electric_blue68]

39. A friend in TX goes to various National Parks out West and....

has seen stupid people or heard of after the fact while being there doing dangerous, stupid stuff for decades!

And she's been been going since the mid late '70s!

.She'll occasional post something reccent on FB but as said - known about stuff since pre the Interwebs! Yikes.

[Nay]

41. It isn't new. As a child (60 years ago), we were on a trip to the Smoky Mts. We rounded

a bend and were horrified to see a mom and dad trying to put their toddler on A BLACK BEAR'S BACK so they could take a pic. My dad drove like a madman to the nearest ranger station to report it -- we never heard what happened, but that ranger tore out of the parking lot like a crazed maniac to try to stop a tragedy.

[pansypoo53219]

42. darwin + bell curve.