Not cool at all.
Every year, millions of people visit Yellowstone National Park to take in the beautiful sights and the majestic creatures that call the area home. Annually, it’s one of the most visited national parks in the country (Great Smoky Mountains National Park actually holds the No. 1 spot on the most visited list), and more often than not, we get videos of tourists doing stupid things while they are there.
Normally, that comes in the form of getting too close to the animals. Visitors are supposed to stay at least 25 yards away from the more docile animals, and 100 from creatures that are more dangerous, like bears and wolves. There are plenty of videos on the internet showing tourists – also called “tourons” (tourist morons) – not heeding those warnings and guidelines.
In this video below, which was taken in May, a tourist didn’t physically get close to the animal. Instead, they flew their high-tech drone within feet of a pack of grizzly bears (a mother and her two cubs) who were in Grizzly Lake area of the park. It was clearly bothering the bears, since they kept looking at the flying object and trying to run away from it. Every time the grizzlies moved, the drone moved with them.
In the footage, a park ranger is heard exclaiming:
“Can anyone see who’s got the drone? Who has the drone?”
You can hear the sense of urgency in the ranger’s voice because it’s obviously causing the bears to be distressed. The launching, landing, or operation of uncrewed aircraft in Yellowstone National Park – or any national park for that matter – is strictly prohibited. In fact, piloting a drone in a national park without having proper authorization is a misdemeanor, and doing so can lead to jail time and fines up to $5,000.
And that’s not the only thing that could lead to legal issues for the drone flying tourist. Harassing wildlife is a Class B misdemeanor, and could also result in jail time, fines, and permanent park bans. It doesn’t look like the park ranger was able to find out who was flying the drone in this video, but if they ever did, the person would be in a whole lot of trouble.
According to ABC 7, those that were in the area and witnessed the mother grizzly bear and her two little ones being harassed by the flying drone were incredibly upset… and rightfully so:
“Visitors to Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park were furious after they spotted an illegal drone harassing a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs on May 14. Donald Johnson captured this footage showing a small white drone buzzing low towards the grizzlies. In the footage, voices can be heard debating who owns the camera, with one person saying that the park rangers are trying to chase the bears off.”
Doesn’t seem like it should be that hard to leave the animals alone, you know? But tourists can’t help themselves, and as technology advances, people are finding new, futuristic ways to break the rules and bother the wildlife.
