NPS warning re bear selfies

Mark, I was going to suggest "bear selfies" for a future WC theme, but the National Park Service has issued a warning against this type of M&N photo. Too bad. Such a good idea! I guess "shark selfies" or "tiger selfies" are still ok, or maybe just any selfie with a wild and dangerous animal other than a bear? Could be a fun theme.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/28/forest-service-stop-taking-selfies-with-bears/18055425/

That's pretty interesting; People don't understand wild animals at all sometimes unfortunately. Several years ago just before my trip to Kruger Park in South Africa, there was a news story about a tourist couple who got out of their car to take pics with some lions lying under a tree. They never made it back to their car. If they're taking selfies, not only are probably getting way too close, they're also turning their back on the bears and not paying attention. All things you don't want to do.

Yes, it's truly amazing how dumb many people act when they get to a National Park. I watched a man take his P/S camera and get 10 feet away from a resting 15 point bull Elk in Yellowstone, then when it continued to lay down, he went back to his friends and offered to do the same with their cameras. Lucky for him, this was mid-July. If he'd have tried that in late August or once the rut begins in early Sept. I think the story would have been very different. There was a big bull Elk that hung out in Mammoth who was known for attacking cars during the rut (sadly he died in early 2013, hung up on a barbed wire fence).

There a good book about deaths (mostly people doing stupid things) in Yellowstone:

Whittlesey, Lee H. Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park.
Boulder, CO: The Court Wayne Press, 1995.

that's been recently revised and updated.

I saw this on the news last night. Having been on this planet for well over a half century now there is nothing that surprises me anymore. In fact, the regression of common sense by many a fool these days seems never ending. I think of the poor souls totally minding their own business who have lost their lives to bear attacks and I have to wonder. I know first hand I was very lucky to escape a 3 year old grizzly in Alaska years back who was breaking into a cabin our crew was sleeping in. Many thanks to a member on our engineering crew and his 30.06 he carried into the bush back then. Bears can change attitude in a nano second.

Sooo...a selfie with a bear is a 'Grin, and bear it' sort of thing?

Not to make light of a serious subject, but I just couldn't resist.

--P

This goes back to the film days. We were at the picnic area near Patricia Lake in JNP. Beautiful summer day. Then a BB mother with two cubs quietly walked into the picnic area. People retreated to their vehicles with some of their food and the bears gobbled up the food that was left behind on the tables. As everyone, more or less, was in their vehicles, the bears slowly drifted over to the parking area and people were watching the bears. And vice versa too, I suppose. This was so smooth and it looked like a daily lunch routine on the part of the bears.

Then, one young couple got out of their vehicle, and before anyone knew what was going to happen, one parent held up the baby right in front of a bear (I forget if it was the mother or a cub) so that the other parent could take a photo. Thankfully, the bears did not react. People gestured to the couple with the baby to get back into their vehicle, which they then did. Eerie scene. It looked as if they were hand feeding a bear ("Do not feed the bears"), except that it was their baby. I still shudder when I think about it.

I watched a man take his P/S camera and get 10 feet away from a resting 15 point bull Elk in Yellowstone.

Mark, I saw a similar event at Teton NP years ago. Very near Oxbow Bend area in the grove of trees usually seen in most photos there with Mt. Moran in the BG.
Only this was an old codger carrying a Kodak Instamatic. There were several of us setup around a very large bull moose resting himself in the shade during the afternoon heat. You could see him panting so he was plenty hot and tired. We were all using 300mm+ big glass so as not to bother the bull. However, the old guy jumps off the tour bus and runs in front of everyone as if to say what a bunch of fools we were and how he could tame the wild beast. He got within 20 feet and the moose thankfully did not bother to get up and gore the old fool.

This was taken on August 23rd in Jasper NP so the rut was just around the corner. There were quite a few people taking pictures but most of us stayed a safe distance away on the opposite side of the road. These people though just jumped out of their vehicle and charged straight at the Elk. As you can see he was letting them know they were getting too close. Quite a few people near me were yelling at them to get out of there but they were completely oblivious. I was certain that the big bull was going to make an ornament for his antlers out of one of them but they finally clued in and moved back.

Perhaps Carey it's because they look like a single large multi-colored adversary. If you squint a bit the collection of three homo sapiens is about the same shape and a mirror image of the elk... four legs, a body and antlers.