These Tourists Made Park Rangers Lose Faith in Humanity

If you've done any of these dumb things in a national park, go apologize to a park ranger this minute. We'll wait.

Human beings are capable of amazing things. No other animal has ever successfully sent itself to outer space or designed a way to video chat from thousands of miles away. We’re pretty cool, but we can also be arrogant and downright dumb, especially in nature. When tourists who are used to living in the suburbs come face to face with wildlife, they can make some mindbogglingly bad decisions.

Park rangers, we salute you. For everyone else, do yourself a favor and avoid the mistakes of these tourists. In case the disdain of park rangers everywhere isn’t enough of a deterrent for you, know that most of them ended up with a police record, injuries or something worse.

People Who Pulled the Car Over to Take Photos of Baby Bears

Brown bear cubs playing on the field among white flowers

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Do people not know that bears have teeth? And claws? And very little impulse control? Tourists seem to vastly underestimate how wild wildlife really is. Park rangers detest when tourists ignore every single sign telling visitors not to stop their vehicles or approach the wildlife.

Being in a car gives them an illusion of safety, but pulling up next to bears, bison, and other large animals is pretty risky. If the animal reacts, authorities will have no option but to kill the animal for the humans’ safety, even though the animal was behaving just as it should. If you see wildlife, appreciate it from afar, obey the signs and don’t be stupid.

Anyone Who Tries to Take Home Baby Alligators from the Everglades

Herd of crocodiles enjoying the sun in everglades national park

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At the Everglades National Park, it’s ridiculously common for people to try to take home baby alligators to keep as pets. Yes, American alligators that grow to be 15 feet long or more, with jaws that can take you out in one fell chomp. Not only is caring for an alligator properly close to impossible, it might also prove legal.

It’s also not uncommon for people to ask if they can swim in the Everglades, even though full-sized crocs are visible. We’d be tempted to say yes just because it’s such a stupid question.

A Couple Who Put Their Kid in Harm’s Way for a Cute Photo

filming the young wild black american bear in the forest in Yosemite National Park

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One couple reportedly put their toddler onto the back of a baby black bear for a photo op. Natural selection did not kick in, fortunately, but how can parents be so irresponsible? If you’ve ever been on TikTok, there are plenty of viral videos with a sound that reads, “If not friend, why friend shaped?” The accompanying footage is of a variety of wildlife that looks snuggly but can definitely kill you.

Lions, tigers and bears are all cute and fluffy, but just because a bear will sit down at a picnic table with campers doesn’t mean it won’t also eat them. Common sense classes aren’t taught in school, but they clearly should be.

Two Women Who Thought Picking Up Baby Lions Was NBD

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The education system failed two ladies miserably. Whatever gave tourists the impression that baby lions were totally fine to pick up as long as their mama wasn’t around?

They might look like wilder house cats, but mama lion won’t when she returns to see a complete stranger kidnapping her babies. That’s a great way to get taken out by a lion, and can you say you’d react any differently in her shoes? Well, paws?

Tourists Who Tried to “Rescue” a Baby Bison

Buffalo or bison calves playing near mothers

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If a bird runs into your window, taking it to a wildlife rescue center is fine. If you see a baby animal in the wild, leave it alone. If you’re concerned, contact a local wildlife authority for guidance. Whatever you do, don’t load a baby bison into the back of an SUV. That’s what two Yellowstone vistors did, thinking the bison had been abandoned. Real rescuers tried to reintroduce the baby bison to its herd, but it was rejected due to the contact with humans and was euthanized as a result.

Another tourist tried to take home a fawn that they claimed had a broken leg. According to officials, the deer was perfectly healthy. If you’re not an expert, don’t interfere with wildlife, no matter how good your motives may be.

An Artist Who Defaced a National Park for Likes

Graffiti Covered Boulders in California Desert

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Wow. Rescuing wildlife is usually a misguided attempt to help, but this act of stupidity was purely selfish. Casey Nocket, an artist who developed a following on Instagram, began decorating national parks with graffiti for the publicity (we’re not including her handle, so she doesn’t get any more attention).

She included her Instagram handle next to the graffiti in seven different parks, and posted them publicly on her page. How she didn’t think she would be caught is beyond comprehension. She admitted to the defacement at her trial in 2016, and is now permanently banned from all national parks.

Four Tourists Who Strolled Off the Boardwalk at Yellowstone

Misty scene of walking tourists on wooden boardwalk inside Grand Prismatic Spring.

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The number of tourists who disobey obvious signs and ignore common sense just for photos is staggering. A group of four men who run a travel blog, High on Life, decided they needed a closer view of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. They were tried in court for multiple violations.

In addition to the risk of being scalded by the water, straying from the path can damage the delicate ecosystem there. If there are signs directing visitors to stay on the walkway, follow them. It’s not that hard.

A Woman Who Burned Down a Tree by Smoking Meth

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Park rangers must have the patience of saints to deal with people who do stuff like this. One woman smoked meth inside the trunk of a 3,500-year-old hollow tree. The entire tree burned to the ground.

Setting aside the issue of taking part in illicit drug use, why inside a tree? If you’re going to ruin your health and shirk the law, why take out a treasured, irreplaceable natural landmark in the process?

The Tourists Who Didn’t Research How Bear Spray Works

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We’re not sure if points for effort should be awarded here or not. You be the judge. A group of tourists in a national park visitor’s center caused a commotion after they tried to apply bear spray like bug spray, squirting it all over themselves. In case you’re unfamiliar with bear spray, it’s basically extra-strong pepper spray.

The tourists didn’t suffer any lasting injuries, but this is a great example of why you should always do your research and ask questions instead of making assumptions and hoping for the best. Not knowing isn’t stupid, but putting yourself in harm’s way instead of asking a question definitely is.

The Boy Scout Leaders Who Toppled a Geographic Landmark for “Safety”

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Stories like this make us want to ask, “Really? Reeeeally?!”

Of all people who should know how to behave in nature, Boy Scouts should fall towards the top. One group of Boy Scouts didn’t get the memo. Utah’s Goblin Valley is home to unique, mushroom-shaped rock formations known as hoodoos.The formations are millions of years old, but Boy Scout leaders deliberately knocked one over in 2013.

They were filmed cheering as it fell and later claimed they knocked it over because it was unstable and posed a safety risk. They were charged with third-degree felonies and received probation as a consequence.

The Idiot Who Nearly Took Out Hikers in the Grand Canyon

Man looking at view at Grand Canyon, South Rim. Arizona USA

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You wouldn’t think it would be necessary to tell grown adults not to throw rocks into the Grand Canyon, but here we are. This is why there are signs up with stupidly obvious instructions. One man stood at the top of a hiking trail and threw a rock, just to see what would happen.

What happened was predictable: He almost hit the hikers below, who watched their lives flash before their eyes as a rock went ricocheting down the walls of the canyon above, narrowly missing them. If you’re going to be stupid, be stupid at home where you’ll only break yourself instead of innocent strangers.

Well-Meaning Idiots Who React Without Thinking

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This one is just sad. In 1981, a man perished in a geyser at Yellowstone when he impulsively jumped in after his friend’s dog. The waters were 200 degrees F, and the man suffered third degree burns all over his body. His motives were pure, but stories of rescue attempts gone wrong are far too common.

This is especially important to keep in mind around water. If someone falls into a fast-moving river or gets caught in a rip current, don’t jump in after them unless you have the skills and equipment to avoid becoming a victim yourself.

Tourists Who Try to Light Fossils on Fire

Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, Route 66

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Petrified Forest National Park is a fascinating natural landmark that’s a goldmine for scientists. The petrified wood there was formed 225 million years ago during the Triassic period. It’s illegal to burn it, yet that doesn’t stop tourists from trying. One researcher watched a pair of tourists trying in vain to set it alight.

Luckily, that’s impossible. Fossilized wood is four times as hard as granite, and trying to burn it is like trying to catch a rock on fire. Nevertheless, the blatant disrespect of tourists gives park rangers a perfectly valid reason to hate them.

National Park Visitors Who Expect Wildlife to Be Trained Like Pets

Thr American bison along the alaska highway in Canada

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According to numerous reports, many tourists arrive at national parks and expect wildlife to be at the beck and call of park rangers. What about wildlife do people not understand?

The word wild is right in the name, yet some tourists complain when the bears are sleeping and the bison aren’t exciting enough. If you want a suspenseful nature experience, stay home and watch an Animal Planet documentary instead.

Litterbugs

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Last but not least, we have the most benign bane of park ranger’s existence: Littering. One park ranger watched a man dig into two McDonald’s cheeseburgers with an order of fries and a large drink, and then leave his greasy garbage strewn on the floor of a national forest. Littering is less likely to get you killed on vacation than trying to bring home a baby alligator, but the consequences are severe long term.

Wildlife becomes habituated to humans, losing their natural fear of us and learning to rely on campgrounds, farms and human settlements for food. In addition to disrupting the food chain, this dramatically raises the odds of dangerous encounters between large wildlife, particularly bears, and people. Most of the time, these encounters result in the necessary euthanization of the animal. Not cool.