So I’m currently at Lake Louise in Banff National Park up in the Canadian Rockies just to give you the general overview.
The main path to Lake Agnes and Mirror Lake has been closed off as a grizzly bear mother and cubs have been spotted browsing for wild berries in the the step-free path area, with a set of steps about 400m down still available to access the lakes uphill.
Group of six adult tourists who are part of a coach group get told by the staff why the specific path has been closed. I’m sitting on a bench as I’ve just eaten lunch and can see this all go down from about 5m away. The group of tourists wait for the staff to go away and pull the barrier open, with two of them mentioning they “want to take photos”.
If that isn’t the truest form of FAFO I don’t know what is. I did tell a park ranger that I’ve seen them go up the closed path as a set of cubs shouldn’t lose their mother due to the actions of a group of self-righteous idiots.
You've brought up an instance of "fuck around," but there is no "find out" in your story. I think you are correct when you said that you don't know what FAFO is.
When I spoke to the ranger, she said they’d be removed from the park as they’re deliberately ignoring a warning which could lead to serious injury. I think that’d be the find out phase
They would be excellent nominees for the Darwin Awards.
100%
Yeah, only problem is the bears would pay for it.
This is Harambe type sh\*\*
Only if they haven't yet reproduced.
There ppl piss me off. Go home don't fucking come back.
People suck.
Shame on you! 😄 We had a chance to Darwin these dummies and you took it away from us! 😄
Bear shouldn’t be put down for the idiots not being able to follow instructions
They sound very American.
Sounds very Chinese to me
Of course, they don’t come back as their families scream blue modern to go save these numpties.
Reminds me of the time I saw a woman wearing flip-flops chase a momma bear with two cubs through the woods at Cade's Cove (Smokey Mountains) with her camera (phone) at the ready.
I saw a lady tell her two kids to get out and chase a mama bear
Definitely from the US and most likely a Republican.
I live in Calgary and I hate people like this. The people that do this end up having bears and wolves put down due to their terrible behavior. I hope they fine them. In fact, there was a couple that posted about being followed by a grizzly in Banff a couple weeks ago. It’s illegal to have your dog off leash and they did. Parks Canada found them and gave them a big old ticket.
Make sure to tell the coach company. They don't like risking getting on the rangers' bad side by bringing people like this around. I'm petty enough that I'd look up the group, try to guess the next likely stop (without information I'd guess Yoho) and tell not only the rangers ay Banff wgat they did and where they are going but call the other park to give them a heads up. Right after they headed up the trail starting a panic attack of "they're going after the bear to get pictures of the cubs! They are going after the bear! They'll be eaten!" isn't out of the question either.
I'm with you on making an immediate scene! "OH no, those people didn't hear the warning! Someone went down the bear path! Where's the ranger! Someone has to catch them and let them know there's bears down there! Oh no!" Shame the ever-loving bejeebers out of the idiots and give the bears fair warning of morons approaching so mama and cubs can escape.
I remember back in 2020, some idiot was driving between one of the contiguous US states and Alaska. As the pandemic was going on Canada had strict rules in place, non-Canadians had to go from A to B along the highway, with stops along the highway permitted to buy gas and food, and overnight at designated accommodation. One dude decided the rules didn’t apply to him so he stopped to do some sightseeing in Banff: CAD 5,000 fine and removal from Canada.
How about the couple that flew into a small Indigenous community in the Yukon putting them at risk so they could get the vaccine early. People really really suck
The problem with idiots like this, is that they put other people in danger, such as the Park Rangers, and any potential rescuers, and then unfortunately, the bear and the Cubs would have to be either relocated or possibly even put down due to an instance they would be instigating
some people just can't resist a photo op, huh? hope the rangers had a good chat with them later
Bears are rarely put down for protecting their cubs. Considered normal behavior. Carry two cans of bear spray, and if possible, high power pistol as last resort.
Not only entitled, but suicidal stupid. Reminds me of the stories I’ve read about tourists at Yellowstone trying to put little Tommy on the back of a bison calf for a photo up, like they’re in a damn petting zoo.
This isn't just something you read about. I was IN Yellowstone when one of these stories actually happened (granted, it was when film cameras were still in use and fairly popular, but still). Thank goodness the kids were all right and that the idiot parent (the dad of course) involved decided the best place to get his pictures developed was at the ranger station. I remember hearing that the rangers looked at the picture, looked at him, looked back at the pictures then told him his family was banned for a year and he was banned for life. Never heard anything more about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if they shut down any HINT of a temper tantrum about the consequences (along with the phrase "Be glad your child is alive and not stomped into oblivious by an angry meat tank").
And the animal had to be put down because it could not be reunited with the herd. It was illegal to anything else with a wild animal. At the time that happened I lived very close to the park.
I have a friend who’s husband was an ICU doctor in our local hospital. He would come home on a Monday after work and tell her about the latest patient(s) that had been life-flighted from YNP because of this behavior, exactly!
You can’t fix stupid 🤷♀️
Good for you! They would absolutely put down a mother grizz for simply defending her cubs.
I guess meat is back on the menu boys !
You know the insult to injury of it all is by and large boomers take absolute dog shit pics so all that risking life ,limb,killing the bears all over a shitty ass pic that isnt even salvagable
the entitlement is unreal, sounds like they really thought they'd get away with it
There is no "find out," in this. Did they fall? Were they arrested or given large fines?
Why didn't you speak up? To them, not run kff to tattle to a Ranher when it could have been to late for them.tocdo anything, but speak up to them right then and there?
hey not trying to be rude but, a ranger just told them. they already know. why would they listen to a stranger?
We had a great conversation with a park ranger in Jasper years ago about how dumb some people are. We had stopped when we came upon a large number of cars pulled over to look at a bear and her cubs. We stayed at the car, a good distance from the beasties and ended up chatting with her. She said the number of tourists who want to walk up to the bears is kind of terrifying. Granted, we literally have had bear and wolves and coyotes in our yard (farm life ftw) so it's not rare for us to see them. We laughed later that night because the restaurant we were in was full of British tourists who lost their collective minds when a flock of geese flew past the giant window. Apparently that was the biggest bit of wildlife they'd seen. We had seen several elk (including a LARGE bull at the entrance sign to town) and who knows what else, but we also weren't a big group of chatty people, AND we're Canadian/Albertan, so we know where and when to watch for beasties so we don't accidentally hit them.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
PSA for any tourists coming to visit the Banff & Kananaskis region right now. LEAVE OUR BEARS THE FUCK ALONE. Sincerely, Canada. P.S: sorry for yelling and cursing.
Bears gotta eat too 🤷🏻♂️