Government Shutdown Is Already Leading To More Dangerous Bear Encounters In Yellowstone National Park

The government shutdown is hitting the National Park Service hard, and even making Yellowstone National Park a bit more dangerous.

It’s now day 15 of the federal government shutdown, which was sparked by Democrats and Republicans not seeing eye-to-eye on how to move forward with subsides for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Republicans believe those across the aisle are trying to push for tax dollars to cover undocumented immigrants’ health care, while Democrats didn’t agree with the short-term funding (that excluded health care tax credits) that was proposed by the Republican side.

So now, people visiting Yellowstone National Park are getting closer to wild bears than they need to be.

To be clear, that’s not a clear “this happened, which in turn caused this.” However, the disagreement did shut down the government, which in turn made the National Park Service very limited in what it can do. Specifically in Yellowstone National Park, the government shutdown means that park rangers aren’t there to police wildlife (and human) activity as they normally would… and as people continue to visit the park.

That’s particularly concerning, because this time of the year is known to have more bear activity. Why? Because bears are out and about trying to eat all they can before they go into hibernation for the winter. Thus, it’s a perfect storm really: bears are more active, and park rangers are less active (or not active at all) because of the government shutdown.

Wildlife photographer Jessica Hadley told SFGATE that, from what she has seen in the past couple of weeks, the lack of rangers is very noticeable. That’s because something called “bear jams” are going on without much help from wildlife officials:

“One of the most visible aspects of the shutdown in the parks has been the bear jams in Yellowstone. They’re all absent.”

Bear jams simply refer to the moments where bears get close to the roads of Yellowstone. A park goer usually reports the bear spotting, or a park ranger is there on the scene already and helps with traffic management. Park rangers also use these “bear jam” moments to instruct people to stay in their cars, and keep a safe distance between themselves and the bears.

The National Park Service advises tourists to stay 25 yards away from animals that are deemed “non-violent.” That list includes bison, elk, and other creatures that tend to be docile – though docile is a relative term. When it comes to bears, wolves, and other apex predators, the NPS warns park goers to keep 100-yards between them and the animals.

According to that same photographer, with the lack of park rangers and policing, she’s witnessed tourists holding up traffic because of bear sightings, and endangering themselves by walking up towards the potentially dangerous animals. Now do we really need workers out at Yellowstone National Park telling people not to get close to the wild animals?

Yes, we very much do. You probably thought I was going to say, “No, surely individuals have enough common sense to avoid wild animals.” But trust me… I’ve seen enough videos to know that park rangers are critical to keeping people safe in Yellowstone National Park, and other national parks for that matter.

Here’s to hoping the government shutdown ends sooner rather than later so that park rangers can get back to work… protecting idiots who have the urge to walk right up to wild animals. Like these people:

To be clear, that’s from 10 years ago… but that’s just an example of tourists visiting Yellowstone National Park with reckless abandon.The post Government Shutdown Is Already Leading To More Dangerous Bear Encounters In Yellowstone National Park first appeared on Whiskey Riff.