Yellowstone Visitors Ask The Park To Please Train Bears To Hang Out Where Humans Can See Them
Who needs Yelp for government parks and services when you can just leave a comment card? While it’s quite normal to be disappointed at not seeing any animals on a visit to Yellowstone National Park, the thing is, there’s no guarantee of seeing wild animals, being that they’re, well, wild, and they do as they please. But that didn’t stop park guests from politely asking rangers to point some bears in the right direction.
A Reddit user posted an image of a Yellowstone comment card a friend who works at the park had showed off.
“My friend works at Yellowstone and some guests actually left this with the front desk upon checkout this morning,” the poster explained.
Under comments, it reads:
“Our visit was wonderful but we never saw any Bears. Please train your bears to be where guests can see them. This was an expensive trip not to get to see Bears.”
To be clear: Yellowstone doesn’t really own the bears, and as such, they aren’t trained and can’t be told what to do.
But we get it, you go on vacation, you want to see nature up close (but not too close!) and feel like you really experienced everything the park has to offer. So we reached out to Yellowstone to ask what park officials would say to these disappointed visitors, or if they’ve got tips on the best spots/times of day to catch a glimpse of the park’s beasts.
A park representative told Consumerist that they can’t respond directly or verify the authenticity of the comment card, since the guest didn’t leave any contact information.
“However, our response would be that Yellowstone wildlife is just that, wild,” the rep tells Consumerist. “The wildlife is allowed to roam where it wants within the park. Part of the excitement of being in Yellowstone is the adventure and thrill of not knowing what might be around the next bend in the road.”
But if you are hoping to spot bears and other beasts, she says it’s best to look in the early mornings or late afternoon/evening when the weather is cooler.
“Many of the park animals, bears included, tend to spend the majority of the middle portion of the day resting,” she notes. “Some good places to see bears include Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley and the Tower/Roosevelt areas.”
For more information, she suggests guests check out the Yellowstone website’s section on viewing animals at the park.
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