The old expression goes that the single deadliest animal to nature is the human and the number of bad interactions in the country's national parks certainly demonstrate this.
Many parks are struggling with the garbage and environmental degradation that comes as a result of growing numbers of visitors while, last month, park rangers apprehended an Idaho man who was harassing and kicking a bison at the entrance to Yellowstone's West Entrance Road. He was briefly taken to the hospital with minor injuries and later arrested for drunk driving and disturbing wildlife.
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Taking to the National Park forum on the social media platform Reddit (RDDT) to complain, one visitor to Badlands National Park in South Dakota reported seeing people "feeding and petting the prairie dogs."
Those prairie dogs are very cute but don't try feeding them
A type of ground squirrel, the prairie dog is native to the Grasslands area of North America spanning from Canada to Northern Mexico. Many enjoy looking at the way they burrow and pop up seemingly out of nowhere in dry mountainous regions.
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Even so, visitors to places where they are prevalent are often reminded not to touch the prairie dogs because they can bite or transfer certain diseases like the sylvatic plague. As their stomachs are not made to handle human foods like bread or popcorn, feeding them crumbs is another major no-no.
"Once while visiting Badlands my friend and I saw people feeding and petting the prairie dogs," the visitors under the username u/forest-sprite described. "My friend politely reminded them that the prairie dogs are wild animals and shouldn't be fed."
'I'm just wondering if we were in the wrong'
The Redditor said the reaction of the parkgoers was overwhelmingly negative — the people they called out gave them dirty looks while someone else criticized them for speaking up.
"The park has signs at the entrance warning to stay 100 feet away from wildlife and the map and website ask visitors not to feed any wildlife," the Redditor complained. "I'm just wondering if we were in the wrong or missing something in this situation, since we seemed to be the minority in thinking the prairie dogs shouldn't be fed."
The reaction of the people being called out caused the poster to wonder if they did something wrong for speaking but many respondents wrote that they were 100% correct to do so — especially since the National Park Service (NPS) explicitly states that people should not do this on its site for Badlands National Park. The park was among several to introduce a timed entry system for the summer season in order to better handle crowds and be able to cut off entry if the daily flow of visitors becomes more than the park can handle.
"Prairie dogs have sensitive stomachs and cannot process human foods," the NPS advises visitors to the park. "Please do not attempt to touch or pet the prairie dogs. These animals can bite and many of them still carry the plague. For your health and for prairie dog health, please respect our prairie dog towns."
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