PSA: Do not approach the wildlife.
PSA: Do not approach the wildlife.
The amount of people on this post alone, who are rooting for animals to become violent, is a bummer.
It would be nice if social media platforms were incentivized to run public awareness campaigns, like we used to see with Smokey the Bear, to help curb all of this behavior. Though, I could see that just making things worse, because, you know gestures at everything
Greater Jackson Hole, Wyoming resident here. Tourists here are far stupider and in greater number than you could ever imagine.
If you ever watch the show Yellowstone, there is a scene of a bus full of Chinese tourists taking pictures in front of a Grizzly eating a carcass. That scene is not hyperbolic.
At various parks, including in Wyoming, I have seen tourists:
approach a bison (within 15 ft or so) while holding a toddler. Multiple other people approaching bison. Bison can weigh over a ton and can be aggressive.
take a selfie with and then attempt to touch a male elk on its head. It actually charged them but didn’t commit and hurt them - just to scare them.
dozens of people taking severe risks when hiking in remote areas. In the desert, 10 miles out when it’s 90f+ wearing sandals with no water and no cover. Rushing by other hikers on a <2ft wide ledge with a 300ft sheer drop while wearing sandals and carrying their young child in a bulky carrier on their back, etc.
getting within 25ft or so of a male moose to get a picture, moose was visibly agitated. Moose weigh about a half ton and can be quite aggressive.
large groups of people following black bear female with cubs, on foot, for pictures - like 50ft back but still too close for their safety and for the bear’s safety, especially when they’re following it.
Frighteningly many people have zero respect for nature, treat national parks like theme parks, and put themselves, animals, and their children at risk for no good reason in situations that are 100% avoidable.
I saw several people try to go hiking like that at Red Rocks outside of Las Vegas when I was there.
It was summer. The temperature was 130F.
One time I decided to take a day trip to the Valley of Fire, not far from there. It was August and 116 degrees. I had it all planned out. Figured out which stops along the way were short enough for me to walk safely in the heat. Brought lots of water and was never to far from the air conditioned car.
I’ll be damned if I didn’t run into people wearing polo shirts and khakis. Carrying no water or anything at all to drink.
It’s like they were writing an instruction manual on how to get heat stroke.
Man that’s hilarious, if I saw that scene I would have assumed it was a play Banff National parks problems.
It’s a hot spot for Asian tourists too.
My grandfather’s grandfather would have called them tatanka. Basically thunder beasts. The creature that demands your respect and attention. Who has the power of thunder when they move together.
It was considered the greatest challenge for a hunter to take one alone.
People forget their places sometimes.
No inventory?
unpockets your… everything
I have no things to pocket … but my pockets have holes so be careful (or dont).
(I was trying to say poor in an empowering challengy way)
“Don’t become an anecdote” is a warning that covers a lot of stupidity.
It’s also a warning I give before displaying lots of anecdotes from when people fuck up.
(I train security guards…the bunny macer, for example. What kind of assbole do you think a rabbit- a baby rabbit- begging for food by hopping on your boot is a threat? Oh. Also the bunny ran up his pant leg; soaked in mace. And then got nibbly.)
Assholes.
So the client was property management for an apartment complex. The “family friendly” kind, they have revolving problems with tenants and their kids feeding animals. It goes in rotation. Geese. Bunnies, whatever.
Anyhow, the rabbits were the ones getting fat at the time and they had learned people mean food. The bunny hoped on his foot and he freaked out.
I called him an asshole, right?
he was freaking out and his reaction was to grab the mace. That he wasn’t supposed to have. Dumped the entire canister.
(Yeah. That shit gets everywhere.)
Now, if you’ve never been maced… it irritates your skin, eyes, mouth, nose, nasal passages, lunges. Makes you practically blind… and it’s a sensation that doesn’t stop.
The rabbit, positively soaked in this stuff ran up his baggy TactiKool pants. And up to junk. Where it went all Rabbit of Caerbannog. Nibbly, claws. That bunny was fighting for its life (and gave better than he got, if we’re being honest.
So I came on seen after the client called to let me know it happened. I got there around the same time animal control did. (The noises the guard was making were most … embarrassing…) (also he ignored my advice to always have a spare uniform. He’s more than one anecdote…)
The animal control guy. The EMTs. They were not impressed, but they got the rabbit out by cutting the pant leg off.
You’ll be happy to know the bunny is fine. They decontaminated it and kept it for observation. Also the animal control person recommended rabies shots (only to later discover that rabbits aren’t carriers. Don’t blame the animal control.)
Now with all that resolved… I had the “pleasure” of taking this guy to get checked out. Workman’s comp. Liability. All that.
So I drove his now naked ass to the hospital. This guy spent that entire adventure trying to ham it up into some heroic fight to impress the nurses. (Creep.)
They were considerably less hostile when they overheard me telling my boss that he was gonna get fired.
Like you said. Who maces a bunny?
So, Asshole Bunny Macer got discharged after the rabies course… and we happily informed him he was no longer employed.
Of course he tries to take us to unemployment court (it’s not quite a court, but there’s a panel.) so we played the camera footage of the entire incident. Complete with sound.
My favorite part is… he made the training reel for use of force basically instantly. Pretty much everyone who’s working security for our company (and lots of people elsewhere too…) know him. And what kind of asshole he is.
(It’s a humorous and therefore memorable training aid… let’s just say nobody has used mace inappropriately since. Also haven’t had a person needing a spare uniform… which is a personal priority of mine.)