Posted on 06/01/2016 5:09:05 PM PDT by Gamecock
Wild animals aren't here for our own vain amusement — just ask this lady who learned that lesson the hard way. Or, better yet, ask the elk who taught her.
(On second thought, you should probably keep your distance.)
Jody Tibbitts, who works as wildlife guide in Yellowstone National Park, recently caught on video the exact reason why visitors are told not to get too close to the animals who live there. In the short clip, a woman with her phone in hand is seen approaching a rather imposing looking elk who's just hanging out in the brush. (Video at link)
That's when she gets the surprise of a lifetime.
Fortunately, as Tibbitts write on Facebook, the elk didn't actually launch the impolite selfie-snapper — she tripped and fell on her own. But things could have gone much worse.
According to National Parks Service spokesman Jeffrey Olson, there's a growing problem of people putting themselves at risk of being injured by an animal just to snap a photo.
"If you're going to do a selfie, you have to use the widest lens you can," he told ABC News. "There is just kind of an ignorant danger, and then there is a whole other level of the really self-obsessed selfie shooters — and what they do is try to close the distance between them and the animal."
In other words, keep your selfies to yourself.
This article is trending on the web right now.
It seemed appropriate to source “The Dodo.”
What an idiot.
Elk will kill you.
She be STUPID!!
FYI, an ELK makes a Horse look SMALL!
Møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti
Good G-d, THAT was funny. Thank you!
You’re welcome.
THAT was funny schtuff!!
An Elk knocked me down. Call my lawyer, I’m suing Yellowstone.
“There ain’t no cure for stupid”. Ron White
When you enter the park, you are given brochures on what NOT to do. I saw idiots every time I went there.
That’s not even an elk as scary as some I’ve seen pix of walking through a friend’s back yard, up yonder in CO.
Darwin was right.
I just came back from Alaska. It turns out that the moose are the real danger.
It's perfectly OK to do this with a bison, though. You can even mount them first. Well, that's what I tell my liberal friends, anyway.
Ummm. The occasional elk will be bigger than a horse, but no elk makes an average horse look SMALL. Every November I’m in the Montana wilderness aboard a horse hunting elk. I’ve helped pack out bull elk that are as big as a horse. Now an elk will make a woman look small. Granted.
Same in Utah. Stay clear of Moose. But Elk are dangerous if less aggressive. Like any wild animal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.