Thank you for damaging our ecosystem!!

[draggar]

One thing I can't stand is the thoughtless tourists who happen to plague this area even when the economy is at its worst.

My parents are staying at a very nice time share in Pompano and they're on the 6th floor (out of 6) with a beach view. I mean, you walk out onto their balcony and you see the beach straight ahead with NOTHING between you and it except a lagoon and a small dune.

Now, the ecosystem here can be very sensitive (like many). The tide-lagoon has a lot of fish in it as well as plant life. They also have signs around saying "DO NOT FEED THE FISH" (Or sea turtles etc..), even on the foot bridge across it to the beach.

Well, a couple, obviously tourists (why else would they be at the time share?) walked out onto the bridge with several full plastic shopping bags. I thought they were heading to the beach for a picnic, no big deal.

Then, something scary happened.

First, I understand how some people feel the need to feed the wildlife, you don't want to throw away food, you want to help them, etc.. Normally I'll look the other way if you throw a piece of bread (broken up) or two at birds or fish. That's no biggie.

These two started pouring ENTIRE BAGS of potato chips into the lagoon (thanfully only the chips, not the bags). From what I could see, it looked like anything you can imagine, Doritos, Cheetos, regular chips (I'm assuming different flavors). These seemed to be mostly full bags (at least), some they even OPENED and dumped the chips into the lagoon. They must have gone though 10-15 bags of chips, dumping one after another.

My wife and I wanted to complain to the time share management but my parents insisted that we didn't (it's their time share) - they didn't want any backlash (I know, they wouldn't have gotten any).

Don't these people realize how unhealthy these foods are for us, let alone marine life? Plus, a lot of it wasn't eaten so it just drifted in the lagoon and it looked like the canals where I live (not so touristy and clean). I really wished some of the property managers went out to talk to them but no one did.

Sometimes, I guess I shouldn't listen to my parents.

[EvilEmpryss]

A pellet gun and decent aim would have put a quick stop to that crap.

I drove up to a local national forest a few weeks back and was surprised to count no fewer than three dead deer on the side of the road once I entered the state land. I couldn't imagine that the forestry service would have let them lay there long, and they all looked pretty fresh, but three? I also saw a number of deer lurking in the trees and glades by the side of the road.

I figured out how that was happening as I pulled into the campsites. A crowd of vacationers in a huge gas-guzzler of an extended-cab truck were jostling each other for the right to hand feed bread to a pair of does and their fawns that had walked up and stuck their heads in the truck windows.

Yeah, that's right, let's teach the little ones from the start to not fear the vrooms that run really fast through the forest. The dead deer had probably been hovering along the roadside, expecting the vrooms to pull over and disgorge tasty treats while making weird mewling noises. But some vrooms don't stop, and the deer that don't fear them pay the price.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

That reminds me of the time I was out at Yosemite National Park a few years ago. We pulled in to walk one of the trails and came upon a group of elementary-school aged children eating lunch in the forest.

Hovering right behind them were about five deer, waiting for somebody to drop something tasty. And they were close too. You probably could've reached out and pet the damn things.

I went for a walk along the railroad tracks tonight and scared a couple deer away. I could see their little white tails up in the air as they fled. And this is right in the city. I've seen does with their fawns back there.

[mikoyan29]

I hate hate hate it when people feed wild animals.

[Antisocial_Worker]

Could be worse. The Blue Ridge Parkway, "America's Most Scenic Drive," connects the Shenandoah and Great Smokey Mountains national parks, and winds through my city as it does so.

It is also the most popular place in the area for murderers to dispose of the bodies, or parts of the bodies, of their victims. They found one earlier this week in fact, a 21-year-old woman who, as it turns out, was six weeks pregnant.

Ironically enough, the next most popular place is the river and if dumped in the river, bodies tend to wash up near one other area tourist attraction, or on the very property of another. I guess it's the currents, but if disposed of in the river, your body has the highest chance of drifting ashore in a picnic area right by the North Carolina Arboretum or if not there, on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate.

I'm not bringing this up to be ghoulish, despite what you may be thinking. I'm bringing it up because it's the abuse and defilement of the environment and its beauty just like that mentioned in the OP. To say nothing of the victims themselves, it's just wrong to desecrate such beautiful places with this kind of evil, just as on a milder level its wrong to dump your chips in the lake and care nothing if it kills the fish.

[Andara Bledin]

Well, at least with the cases of bodies, most of them are fully natural and not so highly processed.

Most of them.

^-.-^

[Sheldonrs]

...It is also the most popular place in the area for murderers to dispose of the bodies, or parts of the bodies, of their victims. ...

Is that in the brochures?

[Antisocial_Worker]

Is that in the brochures?

No, but it's tourists who discover it for themselves. If you get my drift.

[Cat]

There is a Rose Garden the bf and I like to walk around, and there is a really awesome koi pond with ducks and cranes....and signs saying "Do not Feed the Animals!" So I always get annoyed seeing people throwing the equivialnt loaf of bread in the pond.....idiots. (though there was one cute incident...this family was feeding the ducks, and when the left, the kids were walking single-file, and some ducklings started to follow )

I have seen places that see bird feed if the kids need the ducks, that is okay, but when the sign says Do Not Feed, ya don't feed!

[seigus]

All stupid people, but by far the most idiotic are those who feed bears. This ain't Disney, folks. As the great Far Side cartoon once had a bear saying, "Look at these teeth! Look at these claws! And you think we're just supposed to eat BERRIES?"

[Red_Dazes]

All stupid people, but by far the most idiotic are those who feed bears. This ain't Disney, folks. As the great Far Side cartoon once had a bear saying, "Look at these teeth! Look at these claws! And you think we're just supposed to eat BERRIES?"

Reminds me of a story my sister told me. When her and her husband were up in Tahoe for a weekend. They stopped by a restaurant and on the way in my sister saw a BIG brown bear with two little cubs hanging out right at the railing of the restaurant. The cubs were playing and romping in the grass and all these tourists were gathering around the cubs taking pictures and getting BETWEEN momma and the babies. Some people had bread and shit to give to the CUTE WIDDLE BEAR BABBIES!

She said there were no words for how completely dumbfounded she was.

[dalesys]

There is an old Yellowstone story (40's? 50's?) my dad mentions about the tourists who wanted a cute picture...

Of a bear holding their baby!

[Soulstealer]

There is an old Yellowstone story (40's? 50's?) my dad mentions about the tourists who wanted a cute picture...

Of a bear holding their baby!

You mean the baby wasn't a gift?

[Pagan]

I hate hate hate it when people feed wild animals.

I think that should be qualified. I have a bird feeder. Technically, I should take it down because the little sparrows and finches are wild animals?

No, but it's tourists who discover it for themselves. If you get my drift.

No pun intended.

[Seshat]

There's a reserve near where I grew up where they have a designated bird-feeding place, and the cafe sells birdfeed.

Specific birdfeed approved by the forestry vets for the species that live in that forest.

Specific location AWAY from the cafe's eating area - close enough to ensure that the stupid type of tourist doesn't go 'oh, that's too far', but far enough away that the birds want to stay near the yummy birdseed, not the weird human food.
Oh, and well away from the carpark, where no vehicles (other than powered wheelchairs) ever go.

I think it's one of the best compromises I've seen between allowing tourists to feed the wild animals, and ensuring the wild animals are safe.

Similarly, many country tourist resorts have a couple of hand-reared kangaroos (mama was killed by a car, joey was rescued, joey has lived in the resort all his life). While not domesticated, these joeys are tame.

You have to get a rehab permit to keep the joey, but apparently for kangaroos the rehab permit is basically proving you're not an idiot, have the appropriate facilities (including enough room) and are willing to listen to your vet. (Country vets get a lot of experience in supporting rehabbers. Unfortunately.)

My understanding is that while it's relatively easy to keep the joey alive and well, it's very hard to teach them how to live in the wild. So having them as a 'pet' of the resort is another good compromise. Tourists get to have close encounters with 'exotic Australian animals', the joey has a comfortable and healthy life, the wild kangaroos get to be left alone.