Leave the Wildlife Alone, Idiots!

Yellowstone is an incredible national park filled with scenic beauty and teeming with wildlife. It isn't an amusement park, and the animals aren't rides!

A few weeks ago, a story made the rounds about a baby bison who had to be euthanized after some park visitors decided that the animal looked cold, picked it up, and put it in the back of their vehicle. After being touched by humans, the bison mother rejected the baby. It was a sad story that never needed to happen.

Now, another animal encounter is popping up in Facebook newsfeeds this morning. This video shows a woman getting dangerously close to an elk, and getting charged by it...

I spent a day in Yellowstone while on vacation a few years ago and I still remember coming up to a point at the park where several dozen cars were pulled over. There were bison and elk along the road and people were getting pictures and video of all the wildlife. Many were doing it at extremely close and dangerous distances.

I can clearly recall one woman coming to within about four feet of a male elk with a full rack of horns on its head. She actually went so far as to turn her back on the animal so she could get a good shot with it. Other visitors were even trying to pet and feed some of the animals. How stupid can a person be?

Here's a word of advice to anybody heading to our national, state, or other parks where wildlife are present. Leave them alone! They are not playthings. They are not stuffed. They are not tame. They are wild animals in their natural habitat and they will react if they feel threatened. If you are dumb enough to test that fact, then you deserve the consequences.