Tourists crowd grizzly to film it — and block its path in Yellowstone. See tense moment.
Published at | Updated at
Brooke Baitinger, Idaho Statesman
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (Idaho Statesman) — A crowd of tourists cornered a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park — just to record video and take photos of the bear, tense video shows.
The crowd cut off the grizzly’s path through the park, endangering themselves and the bear, according to the wildlife photographer who captured the encounter.
“This is a grizzly bear and ALL of these people should be 100 yards away from this animal for their own safety and the safety of the animal,” Kyle Moon said in a Sept. 12 post on Instagram. “Many were within 25 yards at times. I watched this grizzly go back and forth multiple times looking for an exit route to cross the street and get to the other side, but there was nowhere for it to go as people lined the side of the road outside of their vehicles.”
Moon’s video shows the bear wandering by the Firehole River in the Wyoming park — with the crowd of onlookers mere yards away.
“This bear has been trying to cross the road for quite some time now,” Moon says in the video. “It’s just completely surrounded by people.”
Moon recorded the video through a spotting scope “quite a distance upriver,” he said.
“This is just unacceptable by (tourists),” he said. “As you can see it was more important for everyone to get their video/pictures from their iPhone than it was for their own safety and the safety of the bear.”
He sees similar behavior often, he said.
“I was recently asked what kind of changes I have noticed over the past four years of working in the park and the easy answer was, people,” he said, adding that he refers to poorly behaving tourists as “tourons,” the combination of a tourist and a moron. “Not only do we continue to break the visitation record year after year, it appears the Tourons are coming in droves. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t see someone do something that makes me shake my head.”
An Instagram account called @TouronsOfYellowstone also shared Moon’s video and included the park’s bear safety tips in the caption. The account highlights “touron” behavior in the park.
“Yellowstone National Park has strict bear safety guidelines to ensure visitor safety and protect grizzly and black bears,” the account said in the caption. The first rule is to stay at least 100 yards away from bears.
Several people expressed their dismay and frustration at the tourists’ behavior in the comments under both videos.
“This bear will eventually injure or kill someone and will pay an (undeserved) death sentence,” someone said in the comments on the @TouronsOfYellowstone video.
“I’m sorry but you can post all the rules that you want. At the end of the day people don’t care, they have no respect for wildlife,” someone said. “They have no respect for our national parks and until something that happens to them maybe the only time they pay attention.”
“Breaks my heart to see an animal stressed in this way,” someone said in the comments on Moon’s video. “They need all of their energy to survive and shouldn’t have to burn it to evade people.”
Moon and several others agreed with the commenter.
“Don’t let massive crowds like this make you think it’s ok to join them and don’t forget that sub-adult grizzly can ruin your day permanently,” Moon said. “… And I’m not saying that nicely.”
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE A BEAR
Bear attacks in the U.S. are rare, according to the National Park Service.
In most attacks, bears are trying to defend their food, cubs or space. There are steps people can take to help prevent a bear encounter from becoming a bear attack.
- Identify yourself: Talk calmly and slowly wave your arms. This can help the bear realize you’re a human and nonthreatening.
- Stay calm: Bears usually don’t want to attack; they want to be left alone. Talk slowly and with a low voice to the bear.
- Don’t scream: Screaming could trigger an attack.
- Pick up small children: Don’t let kids run away from the bear. It could think they’re small prey.
- Hike in groups: A group is noisier and smellier, the National Park Service said. Bears like to keep their distance from groups of people.
- Make yourself look big: Move to higher ground and stand tall. Don’t make any sudden movements.
- Don’t drop your bag: A bag on your back can keep a bear from accessing food, and it can provide protection.
- Walk away slowly: Move sideways so you appear less threatening to the bear. This also lets you keep an eye out.
- Again, don’t run: Bears will chase you, just like a dog would.
- Don’t climb trees: Grizzlies and black bears can also climb.