A guide who specializes in photography tours inside Yellowstone National Park has taken to social media to suggest drastic changes in order to curb speeding and harassment of wildlife.
Trent Sizemore
, who is based in the gateway town of West Yellowstone, Montana, used an Instagram post featuring a white wolf trotting alongside a highway to vent and suggest that a reservations system might be warranted.Sizemore went even further, stating that "a guided tour-only system" might also be warranted "to curb the bad behavior I see in the parks lately.”
Sizemore’s post begins with his recent wolf sighting, which apparently was interrupted by tourists in a hurry to access deeper regions of the park:
"It was 7:30 am in the morning and cars were flying by
on their way in to Yellowstone, completely oblivious that two cars were stopped for this wolf trotting right next to the road.
"Every single day, even now in mid-October, I’m tailgated and passed on double yellow lines by the absolute worst kind of tourists.
"It’s not even just tourists. I’m being passed while doing the speed limit by local guide companies that know better, but they’re in such a hurry.”
Speeding in Yellowstone is a serious issue. Exceeding the 45-mph highway limit increases the risk of automobile accidents and collisions with animals, including wolves, bears, and bison.
Park rangers can be scarce, especially after recent funding cuts, so there isn’t much of a deterrent for motorists.
Sizemore’s post, shared above, concludes: "Numbers of visitors far outweigh the park’s rangers ability to do their job. I don’t care who you vote for, they’re not going to fund the parks how they should be."
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Frustrated Yellowstone guide calls out 'worst kind of tourists'
