Spending time in nature is a great way to get familiar with a new place while traveling. But some tourist attractions are a little too close to wildlife for comfort, putting people and animals at risk.
What happened?
In the r/interestingasf*** subreddit, a Reddit user posted a video of what appears to be someone riding a mountain coaster through Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The coaster travels slowly through a wooded area and passes two black bears that are very close to the track and the exposed rider.
The bears pause to look at the rider, but the coaster makes it past the bears without a physical encounter.
"It's not moving fast enough," the poster captioned the video.
Why is it concerning?
Wildlife tourism may have good intentions for connecting people with nature, but building a coaster through a known bear habitat is dangerous for humans and the animals. Construction and development can destroy resources, cause stress and disruption to wildlife routines, and make encounters with humans much more likely.
Commenters expressed alarm about the rider's proximity to the bears and questioned whether they had control over the coaster and could have sped up to get by the bears faster.
"I'd be a bit concerned for my safety," one user commented.
"I'm not surprised. I'm from the area and the bears keep losing more and more habitat to tourism so these encounters are frequent," another commenter said.
"I got scared just watching this. They must have felt so helpless," someone else wrote.
What can I do to help?
To help preserve wildlife habitats and natural ecosystems in your area, you can donate to reputable conservation groups, install native plants in your yard to encourage biodiversity, and organize activities such as a beach cleanup.
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Absolutely ✅ When you travel, make sure to do your research before participating in attractions that may threaten wildlife. You could unknowingly be contributing to habitat destruction or other harmful actions.
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