Jasper National Park is home to beautiful scenery, majestic mountains, and some fairly large elk. Instagram user @a_campergirl recorded a stunning video, safely from her car, of a massive elk eating grass on the side of the road. While the bull elk had an impressive rack, the video made it to Tourons of Yellowstone for a different reason. In the clip, a handful of tourists can be seen walking way too close to the animal.
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You can easily see that there are cars driving along the road, moving out of the way to accommodate the people slowly approaching the bull elk. Unfortunately, one of them gets within a couple of feet before the video ends. While this is a recipe for disaster, the tourists seem to make it out unscathed. Luckily for them, the elk is too engrossed in eating and doesn't seem to give them much mind. However, it is never wise to get this close, and the video's commenters were not surprised that this happened. One remarked, "Saw someone doing this on the Hasper Banff parkway, but with a grizzly." An equally dangerous move, especially since bears can be unpredictable and territorial. Others chimed in, agreeing that things like this seem to happen in Jasper more often than not. "Jasper is bad for this! I tagged Tourons in some photos I had in pretty much the same place in summer of 2020 of people getting way too close to elk. Unfortunately, yelling at them didn't deter them," wrote another commenter. Many blamed current culture and trends. One viewer wrote, "That's because it has become so crowded with tourists they think it is a big old outdoor petting zoo. They just want something to post on social media, the internet is definitely doing something to people's brains."
They do have a point. Unfortunately, many people who show up on the Tourons of Yellowstone Instagram account are trying to get a picture with or of the animal and clearly invading the animal's personal space in the process.
