While it's important to enjoy quality time when traveling and seeing new sites, it's also crucial to be aware of your surroundings and respect the people and wildlife around you.
Unfortunately, one man disregarded the latter when attempting to pet a wild horse, as seen in a video posted to the Reddit forum r/whatcouldgowrong.
(Click here to watch the video if the embed does not appear.)
The man is seen on a grassy hill, reaching out to pet a grazing horse, when the horse suddenly clamps down on the man's forearm, resulting in him yanking his arm back and quickly walking away. Other horses at the scene appear to be spooked by the incident, trotting away to get some distance.
A tourist receiving instant karma as a result of crossing boundaries with wildlife is unfortunately not uncommon.
Many tourists, especially at national parks and conservation sites where wild animals roam, do not consider the consequences of invading the space of wild animals. Although they may have good intentions when petting or feeding wildlife, these actions can cause significantly more harm than good.
Wild animals cannot always understand the intentions of human beings and may become aggressive or protective in the presence of a perceived threat. If a human is injured as a result of an encounter, oftentimes the animal is put down regardless of intent.
On the flipside, if a wild animal is fed or petted by humans, it may become habituated to human activity, luring it into urban spaces, which can result in harm for both animals and humans as unexpected encounters — like this face-to-face meeting with a bear — become more frequent.
National park officials recommend staying at least 25 yards away from most wildlife and at least 100 yards away from predators like bears and wolves.
Luckily, commenters on the video condemned the man's actions, spreading the word about respecting wildlife and the space that they need.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 "Look at his ears … when they are back, that means the horse feels threatened," read the top comment.
Another user emphasized the gravity of the situation. "A horse can bite hard enough to break your arm," they said. "... if you don't give proper respect and distance to a wild animal, this 1000 pounds of bone and muscle will happily stomp you."
"He wasn't about to let the bison at Yellowstone have all the fun," joked another, alluding to the many incidents of national park tourists encroaching on bison and other wild animals.
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