National parks are an accessible public good established to allow all people to get close to nature and wildlife.
Unfortunately, a decent number of visitors get too close to the animals that call national parks home, as the Instagram account Tourons of National Parks (@touronsofnationalparks) recently demonstrated.
"Touron" is a pejorative portmanteau of "tourist" and "moron." The account was created to highlight ill-advised visitor activity in national parks. It recently shared a brief clip of a couple approaching a massive elk like they're asking it for directions.
In the first of two short videos captured from a safe distance, a couple faced away from the camera. They were just feet from the very large elk.
In the second, a larger crowd of people gathered on the right side of a dirt road. The elk was on the left and was a mere road's width away.
"People getting WAY too close to elk in Grand Canyon National Park," the caption read.
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Approaching animals unsafely is one of the most common faux pas committed by visitors to national parks, but it's not the only one.
Broadly, the National Park Service recommends adhering to the "Leave No Trace" Seven Principles. These are guidelines for spending time in nature without disrupting the land or its inhabitants. One of the seven is "respect wildlife from a distance."
Something about national parks seems to cause visitors to forget the "wild" in "wildlife." But as the park service explained, elk can be very dangerous to humans.
Broadmouth Canyon Ranch, which organizes elk hunts, explained the risk plainly.
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"It's not like elk wake up in the morning hoping to ruin your day. But they will get aggressive if they feel threatened, or if they think you're too close to something they care about," the organization said.
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Definitely 👍 Agitated elk can charge for any reason. And as the group noted, elk can weigh 700 pounds.
Behavior like the example in the video isn't just risky to people either. When wild animals feel provoked and react aggressively, it's not uncommon for officials to euthanize the animal in response.
Instagram commenters were understandably exasperated by the clips.
"Unbelievable," one replied.
"I think the most shocking thing with getting older is realizing how many people truly lack common sense," another said.
The visitors "should have to pay a high fine and [face a] permanent ban for all parks," a third user commented.
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