Yellowstone National Park officials are urging tourists to obey park guidelines, after recent incidents of visitors breaking the law garnered widespread attention on social media.
Last week, a visitor to the park picked up a newborn bison calf, put it in their van, and transported it to park rangers for fear it was cold and in danger. The calf was later euthanized after efforts to reunite it with its mother failed. Then, four men were filmed leaving the boardwalk at the Grand Prismatic Spring and walking on the geothermal feature. Both incidents prompted calls for the visitors’ arrests. The man who put the bison in his car was ticketed, and warrants have been issued for the four men who walked on the spring.
Jody Lyle, a spokeswoman for Yellowstone National Park, says even with all of the media attention, visitors continue to violate park guidelines.
"We still continue today and yesterday to have reports of people walking off boardwalks in areas. People petting bison or getting too close to wild animals. We are doing everything we can to try to get these messages out and have people understand that Yellowstone National Park is not a petting zoo," she says.
Lyle says people entering the park receive a park newspaper and a wildlife safety card. Signs are also posted at geothermal areas where visitors are not permitted to leave the boardwalks.
