As a parent, you are responsible for passing on the dos and do nots to your children, and being a “touron” is one of those do nots.
However, some people somehow still do not know that you aren’t supposed to approach wild animals while visiting National Parks. Anytime I write about one of these, I’m basically treating it as a PSA, so heed my warning, and don’t do what the people in this video idiotically did.
The National Park Service recommends that tourists visiting their parks should maintain a distance of 25 yards away from wildlife, and 100 yards away from animals that would be considered “predators.”
Based on some of the videos you see out the National Parks though, you would think their guideline is “get as close to the wild animals as possible, and give it a big ole pat on the head like it’s your pet dog Sparky.”
These park visitors (presumably at Rocky Mountain National Park) were walking along the paved path when they came upon a cow elk grazing nearby. The adults of the group then instructed the child to approach the elk and put his hand out, which is a practice usually reserved for trying to see if your friend’s pet cat will allow you to pet it.
Someone walking by saw this happening and decided to start recording, and ultimately captured the kid getting his fingers chomped by the cow elk. Who would’ve thought that could happen?
And the guy’s facial expression is priceless as he pans away from the child that just got bit and back to his face. He gave off the textbook definition of “what the hell were they thinking” just by looking into the camera like Jim from The Office.
Take a look:
Tourons at their finest. I hate seeing these types of videos, but at the same time, I love watching people act astronomically dumb around wild animals (as long as they don’t get hurt too bad).
Instagram users in the comments were not holding back as they condemned the parents for guiding their child into harm’s way with the cow elk:
“Irresponsible parenting at its finest.”
“Parents casually watching their kid commit a federal crime.”
“That’s what you get! IT’S NOT A PETTING ZOO.”
“It’s the adults watching that are the real tourons.”
“This must be their least favorite kid I guess.”
