A tourist couple in Rocky Mountain National Park was so excited about seeing a remarkable creature that they simply forgot how to behave, putting themselves and the animal at risk.
Tourons of National Parks (@touronsofnationalparks) has documented many similar cases, including park visitors harassing Yellowstone bison, a mother bear with cubs in Yosemite, and more.
In this case, the victim of the inappropriate tourist behavior was an elk grazing by the side of the road.
The video showed a car stopped in the middle of the road; the person filming was in another car stuck behind it. Two people, a man and a woman, were seen outside their car, taking turns posing for pictures with the elk in the background.
They were already showing poor judgment by holding up traffic and getting out of their vehicle right next to a wild animal. But what was worse was that they kept edging closer to the elk, and at times they made sudden movements that startled it.
If you think that an elk is a harmless herbivore, guess again. While it might not want to eat a human, a mature bull or male elk is 700 to 800 pounds on average, and it can be up to 1,000, as Utah Elk Hunt noted. It is five feet tall at the shoulder and eight feet long — more than large enough to do damage if it becomes frightened and charges.
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Not only is the situation dangerous for the tourists, but it is also dangerous for the animal. An aggressive animal or one that loses its fear of humans may need to be euthanized for safety reasons.
For this reason, the National Park Service urges visitors to stay 25 yards away from elk — much farther than these tourists were.
"Why does RMNP always get the worst of the worst tourons?" asked one commenter.
Unfortunately, the problem seems to extend beyond this one park.
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