Yellowstone tourists wash dogs in thermal area, illegally of course

[marmar]

A Yellowstone National Park tourist has captured footage showing a couple bathing two dogs in thermal water, potentially endangering themselves and their pets.

“I am sad to say this happened today at Firehole Lake Drive,” Karissa Krull wrote Tuesday on a Yellowstone-themed Facebook page. “They were washing their dogs in the thermal water!”

A video clip shows the woman carrying a dog to a stream, where the man is soaking his feet with another dog in the water as steam wafts in the breeze. .

....(snip)....

Tourists cannot legally exit boardwalks in thermal areas. Pets are not allowed on boardwalks, hiking trails, or in thermal areas. In thermal areas, what appears to be solid ground could crumble into scalding water under the weight of people – hence, the need for boardwalks. .........(more)

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/09/yellowstone-tourists-wash-dogs-in-thermal-area-illegally-of-course

[madaboutharry]

1. Dogs aren't permitted on trails in any National Park.

Why would you bring a dog on a visit to a National Park in the first place? It would require you leaving them in your car or camper while you went sightseeing, which is I think is unfair and not very safe for the dog.

These people intentionally went beyond permitted areas. Some people are so stupid.

[DFW]

3. I wish I could find them and give them a year in jail

And they would scream, “a YEAR in jail for washing my dog and soaking my feet? That is harsh beyond all proportion!”

To which I would answer, “you endangered an irreplaceable national heritage, forced National Park resources—already stretched thin and underfunded—to divert from their regular duties to occupy themselves with you, and callously risked spoiling a part of the park for others while ignoring rules that everyone else seemed to be able to follow with no difficulty. If anything, your sentence was too lenient by half.”

[GemDigger]

5. People can swim there.

https://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/swimming-soaking.htm

"Swimming is only permitted during designated hours. The Firehole Swim area is closed at night."

[fescuerescue]

4. Really dumb on their part

But I suspect that wild animals have been in Yellowstone water before.