Yellowstone Tourons Get Way Too Close to Bears

From the video, I can't tell if it is a Grizzly or Black Bear, but they are pretty stupid, either way.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conserva ... onal-park/

Joe

If you have ever been to Yellowstone NP, you will realize that it is not the type of park to walk or bike. That’s especially true when you have young children who need to know about places like this and what they have to offer. Yellowstone is huge and the natural features are spread out over a large expanse. It takes several days to just scratch the surface of Yellowstone by vehicle and foot. That is certainly not the answer. It is the type of place that even bus tours are incapable of revealing the beauty of all the great places available to enjoy at YNP. People are warned not to approach bears within 100 yards and other large animals within 25 yards, yet the express warnings are simply ignored. Bison are responsible for more attacks than any other wildlife there. People unfamiliar with them think that they are just big wild cows! It is a people problem, not a vehicle problem. Ignorance is hard to overcome in some people, especially those from the bigger cities where they are unfamiliar with wildlife.

Joe

archfotos wrote: censorship?  really on this topic.  

No, removal of the advertising contained in your post.  You can repost your comment without the advert if you wish.

A few years ago, I was in Jasper National Park, Canada. There was a female grizzly with two cubs, and tourists were going nuts to get images. People were walking between the mother and the cubs to get cellphone images! They followed the bears into the underbrush, etc. I thought everyone knew not to get between a mother grizzly and her cubs, but apparently not. The park rangers might as well have been talking to a stone because people didn't seem to listen. Finally, they resorted to patrolling the roads and driving off any bears they found, which was especially annoying to photographers, but they had no choice. This particular bear had already been relocated once because it was deemed a problem, and I had heard that they wouldn't relocate it again, so if something happened, it and the cubs were dead.

Some people just can't be educated. I saw some tourists in 1997 at Yellowstone surrounding a Black Bear cub. Momma was nowhere in sight, but you know she was nearby. A small girl of about 6 was really close. Nobody would listen to us (I was leading a workshop) about getting close to the cub. We left quickly so as not to encourage others to stop. I never even took a shot of the cub. Some people just can't understand danger. They think Jellystone and Yellowstone are the same!!!

Joe

Some very valid points, Joe. It really is frightening how stupid some people can be around wildlife, and its often the wildlife that suffers from their stupidity.

Carol.

It's a false sense of security when people see large groups of their own kind, doing the exact same thing.  I see the same crowds surrounding black adult bears feeding with cubs in Algonquin Park during seasons with an abundant blueberry crop.  I assume people are thinking, if this wasn't safe to do, why are all these other people and many with kids, watching the bears up close?  Must be OK because these people can't be all dumb?.  They think to themselves, it must be alright.  Mostly, they are correct.  Most of the time, nothing bad happens.  Until something happens.  

Well, it's definitely possible that it's a Grizzly, but without a clearer view, it's tough to say for sure.

I'm to the point where I'm rooting for the bears and bison to teach the Darwin Competitors a lesson, sadly they'd pay the price for it. I don't think I've ever seen a time when so many people think that if they want to do something there must be no prohibition to stop them and if there is they should be able to ignore it.

BTW, back in 2004 I spent a total of about 3-4 weeks in Yellowstone over two trips, the first beginning in late May and the second in late July. I did it all on my motorcycle. There were several occasions when I had to stop because bison were crossing the road, but so long as you stay where you are and avoid crowding them or otherwise provoking them you should be fine. Still, it would have been safer in a car...


Brian