(HOUSTON) — More than a dozen teenagers from a church camp posing for a group photo were injured after a portion of a deck walkway collapsed at a seaside park in Texas, officials said.
The students were visiting Stahlman Park in Surfside Beach, Brazoria County, on Thursday with the Bayou City Fellowship when the incident occurred, the church said. Nearly 80 students from several campuses were on the trip, the church said.
Students from the Bayou City Fellowship’s Cypress campus were taking a group photo when a portion of the deck collapsed around 12:30 p.m. local time, according to the church.
Footage from the scene showed a section of a wooden walkway ramp that had partially detached, falling on the grass below.
Nineteen students between the ages of 14 and 18 suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the incident, according to Brazoria County officials. Five were transported to a Houston-area Memorial Hermann hospital via a helicopter, five were taken by ambulance to local hospitals, and nine were taken to hospitals by private vehicles, the county said.
Multiple police, EMS and fire departments responded to the scene.
“While this is a traumatic event, we are blessed to report that none of the injuries are life-threatening,” Bayou City Fellowship said in a statement. “We are thankful for the outpour of concern from our community and ask that the city and surrounding areas keep all that are affected physically and emotionally in prayer.”
The church said it is not releasing the names of the victims or the nature of their injuries due to privacy concerns.
The incident remains under investigation, the county said.
Stahlman Park is located on the Gulf of Mexico, about 66 miles south of Houston.
(NEW YORK) — A Florida woman appeared at her first court hearing after she was arrested in the shooting death of her neighbor, a mother of four, after an alleged dispute with the neighbor’s children.
Susan Lorincz, 58, appeared in court via video from the Marion County Jail where she is currently being housed, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). The state attorney requested that Lorincz be held with no bond and said that the state would file a motion for pretrial detention.
Judge Lori Cotton said she will hold off on the bond hearing until the state files a motion for pretrial detention, which will be scheduled within five days. Cotton said Lorincz’s next court date will be on July 11.
“The fact that she has no job, no property kind of limits her ties to this community,” the state attorney said of Lorincz. “So we ask that, at least for the time being, she remain on a no-bond status.”
Lorincz, who is white, allegedly shot and killed Ajike Owens, who is Black, on June 2 in Ocala, Florida, on the doorstep of Lorincz’s home after Owens went to the suspect’s residence to question her about a dispute with Owens’ children, according to police documents.
Authorities say the suspect told police that she shot Owens, 35, in self-defense but through their investigation, the sheriff’s office said it was determined Lorincz’s actions were not justified under Florida law.
At a press conference Wednesday, Ben Crump, the attorney representing Owens’ family, claimed Susan Lorincz often directed racial slurs at Black children around the neighborhood and antagonized them to not play on the field near her home.
Lorincz’s attorney, the sheriff’s office and the state attorney’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on these claims.
Lorincz mostly gave one-word answers during the hearing Thursday. One exception was when Cotton asked Lorincz if she planned to find a job. Lorincz said she has been out of work for two weeks and had been employed in the medical field helping people set up doctor’s appointments.
“We set up appointments for people who have Medicare, Medicaid insurance,” Lorincz said to the judge.
“Are you intending on getting another job?” Cotton asked.
“Eventually,” Lorincz replied.
Lorincz was arrested this week and charged with first-degree manslaughter, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, if convicted, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. She was also charged with culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault.
In a statement, MCSO explained they conducted interviews with witnesses, Owens’ children and Lorincz.
“Ms. Lorincz’s fate is now in the hands of the judicial system, which I trust will deliver justice in due course,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement. “As I go to bed tonight, I will be saying a prayer for Ms. Owens’ children and the rest of her family. I’d ask all of you to do the same.”
Woods said there was an ongoing feud between Lorincz and Owens. The day of the shooting, the children were playing in a field on the property in which the suspect’s home is located. At that point, the suspect allegedly engaged in an argument with the children, the sheriff’s department said.
Lorincz allegedly threw a pair of skates at Owens’ 9-year-old son and hit the child in the toe, according to MCSO. Afterwards, the minor and his 12-year-old brother went to Lorincz’s home to speak to her. Lorincz swung an umbrella at them, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
The children notified Owens, resulting in Owens going to the suspect’s home and demanding that she come out. That’s when Lorincz shot Owens through her closed door, striking her in the upper chest, according to MCSO. Owen’s 9-year-old son was beside her, police said.
“Our 12-year-old blames himself for the death of his mother because he couldn’t save her,” Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, said at a press conference on Wednesday. “He couldn’t give her CPR. His words, ‘Grandma, grandma, I couldn’t save her! I tried to give her CPR! I tried to give her CPR!'”
According to police records, when officers arrived on the scene, they found Owens under a nearby tree with a gunshot wound. She had a faint pulse as the officers applied medical aid. Owens was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced deceased later that evening.
In a press conference on Monday, Woods said that Florida Stand Your Ground laws made it harder to execute an immediate arrest. The sheriff’s major crimes unit was finally able to arrest Lorincz on Tuesday after gathering enough evidence, the sheriff’s department said.
“I pray that God gives me the strength, the wisdom and the ability to raise these children as our daughter would have us to do,” Dias said. “[They] witnessed their mother murdered in cold blood.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump said on an audio recording in 2021 that he had taken classified information with him to his Florida home after leaving the White House, ABC News has confirmed.
Trump is heard on the audio recording saying, as described to ABC News, “As president I could have declassified, but now I can’t.”
The recording, first reported Friday morning by CNN, was made as part of an interview Trump gave for a book and was obtained by the special counsel’s team.
According to a portion of the transcript of the call obtained by ABC News, Trump is heard acknowledging that the document he claims to have is “highly confidential” and “secret.”
“Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. This was done by the military and given to me,” a transcript of the audio obtained by ABC News says.
The transcript appears to suggest that Trump is showing the document in question to those in the room.
“Well, with Milley — uh, let me see that, I’ll show you an example. He said that I wanted to attack Iran. Isn’t that amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this — this is off the record, but — they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him,” the transcript said. “We looked at some. This was him. This wasn’t done by me, this was him. All sorts of stuff — pages long, look. Wait a minute, let’s see here. I just found, isn’t that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this. This was done by the military and given to me.”
(NEW YORK) — Looking for a holiday or vacation rental this summer? Beware the fake listing.
It’s a scam that Morgan MacFarlane encountered when she booked an Airbnb room for a trip to Mexico.
After she paid and showed up to the destination shown on the Airbnb listing to check in, she learned there was no reservation under her name.
“When I got there, I started speaking with the manager who was working, who explained to me that it was $15 more U.S. a night, which I was like I’ve already paid, like I already have a booking,” MacFarlane said.
According to MacFarlane, the listing photos, address and phone number of the place she arrived matched up with what she saw in person — but there was one catch.
“He was like, ‘This isn’t the right hotel,’ that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, something’s really not right,'” MacFarlane recalled.
MacFarlane said she reached out to Airbnb for assistance and that’s when she learned the listing was fake.
Both Airbnb and the hotel had been targeted by a bad host and the actual hotel wasn’t even open yet.
Airbnb told Good Morning America that fake listings have “no place” on their website and platform. In MacFarlane’s case, Airbnb said the bad host was later banned and has never received any money through Airbnb.
Airbnb said they refunded MacFarlane the money she paid and the hotel gave her a real reservation.
To avoid such pitfalls, Amy Nofziger, a director of fraud victim support at AARP’s Fraud Watch Network, said to look for red flags.
“If anyone is asking you to pay in a nontraditional form of payment, like a prepaid gift card, Bitcoin or even via a peer-to-peer app like Venmo, Cash App or Zelle, those are huge red flags,” Nofziger said.
If you’re booking online, Nofziger said to check for other reviews and use a credit card to charge the reservation.
“Find out what the actual hotel is charging for that room and most likely, you’re probably going to get a better deal from the hotel directly anyways,” Nofziger said.
It is also a good idea to confirm a booking has been made by contacting the property before traveling.
(FORT PIERCE, Fla.) — The summons sent to former President Donald Trump and his legal team late Thursday indicates that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will be assigned to oversee his case, at least initially, according to sources briefed on the matter.
Cannon’s apparent assignment would add yet another unprecedented wrinkle to a case involving the first federal charges against a former president: Trump appointed Cannon to the federal bench in 2019, meaning that, if Trump is ultimately convicted, she would be responsible for determining the sentence – which may include prison time – for the man who elevated her to the role.
A federal grand jury voted to indict Trump on at least seven federal charges late Thursday as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The indictment comes after more than 100 documents with classified markings were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claimed again late Thursday that he was innocent.
Cannon is no stranger to the case. The 42-year-old judge was appointed last year as a “special master” to review those materials seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Legal experts accused Cannon of handing Trump a series of head-scratching victories over the course of those proceedings.
ABC News left a voicemail with Judge Cannon’s chambers Friday morning seeking comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
In one instance, Cannon restricted the FBI from using the seized classified documents as part of their ongoing probe until she completed her review. Cannon’s order was ultimately thrown out in its entirety by an 11th Circuit Court of appeals panel, which found she overstepped in exercising her jurisdiction in the probe.
In addition to Cannon, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart’s name also appeared on the summons sent to Trump on Thursday, the sources said.
Reinhart, who was sworn in as a magistrate judge in 2018, is also familiar with the proceedings against Trump: he signed off on the initial search warrant of Mar-a-Lago last year and later ruled to unseal the search affidavit – decisions that made him the target of antisemitic jabs on the internet.
Judges in most federal cases are assigned at random. But the apparent nods to Cannon and Reinhart on the summons for Trump might actually reflect the fact that both have already played roles in the proceedings, experts said.
“If the case is being overseen by the same district and magistrate judges, that means the court likely considered the indictment to be ‘related’ to the search warrant and intentionally assigned it to those judges,” former senior Justice Department national security official Brandon Van Grack told ABC News.
ABC News was provided a case number that was part of the written summons and according to the federal court filing system PACER, that case number matches a docket under “Judge AMC.” Cannon’s full name is Aileen Mercedes Cannon.
Apart from her own previous involvement in the investigation of Trump, Cannon’s assignment would put her at the center of one of what is likely to be one of the most consequential and scrutinized criminal cases in American history.
Her rulings on everything from procedural motions to Trump’s planned efforts to have the case thrown out before trial will have vast implications for the course of the case leading into an election year where Trump currently holds the status of the Republican party’s front runner.
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukraine has begun its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia, officials told ABC News.
Multiple reports have said a major battle has begun in southeastern Ukraine, south of the major Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 09, 9:36 AM EDT
Putin says tactical nukes to be deployed to Belarus July 7-8
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons after July 7 or 8, when storage sites are ready, according to Russian news service Interfax.
“Everything is going to plan in the most sensitive matters you and I have agreed on. As you know, preparations of the relevant facilities will be finalized on July 7-8, and we will start taking measures towards the deployment of respective types of weapons in your territory as soon as that happens,” Putin said at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
“Everything is going to plan, all is stable,” he said.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Jun 09, 9:19 AM EDT
Counteroffensive begins in southeastern Ukraine, south of Zaporizhzhia
Arguably, Ukraine’s counteroffensive was getting going a few days ago, and the Institute for the Study of War said as much on Monday, saying on Twitter that “Russian and Ukrainian officials are signaling the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.”
However, there were significant developments on Thursday. Multiple reports said a major battle has begun in southeastern Ukraine, south of the major Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
Well-placed unofficial pro-Ukrainian sources said the southeastern front is becoming more active and there are unconfirmed images and reports that Ukraine’s new modern German-made Leopard 2 tanks are involved in the offensive.
“The events that are happening now on the front line signal the start of the offensive and Ukraine will intensify its efforts,” the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said Thursday morning.
Jun 09, 9:19 AM EDT
Ukraine begins counteroffensive against Russia
Ukraine began its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia on Thursday, officials told ABC News.
Well-trained Ukrainian troops had been near the front lines in recent days, Western officials said last week.
Two Ukrainian officials, including a source close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed to ABC News that an active phase of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway.
(SIOUX FALLS, S.D.) — Officials from the Transportation Security Administration in South Dakota stopped a passenger with a loaded handgun from getting onto a plane in the fourth such incident at the Sioux Falls Airport this year.
During the routine screening of carry-on luggage this past Tuesday, a TSA officer at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport spotted a silhouette of a handgun on the X-ray screen, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement detailing the event on Tuesday.
Airport officials immediately alerted the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office who responded to the airport’s security screening area and discovered that the firearm was loaded.
This is not the first time this has happened at Sioux Falls Regional Airport. In fact, it is the fourth time this year that it has happened. A total of nine firearms were confiscated by authorities at the same airport in 2022.
“As summer travel picks up, these incidents present a danger to our dedicated workforce, and the traveling public,” Acting South Dakota TSA Federal Security Director David Durgan said. “We encourage all travelers to know the exact location of their firearm at all times and to pack their luggage starting with a completely empty bag to ensure no prohibited items are accidentally brought to the checkpoint.”
The TSA recently announced that the penalty for bringing weapons to an airport has increased with the fine being as high as $14,950 for a single infraction of the law, depending on the circumstances in each case, the TSA said.
“TSA will continue to revoke TSA PreCheck eligibility for at least five years for passengers caught with a firearm in their possession,” officials said. “Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are unloaded, packed separately from ammunition in a locked hardback case and declared at the airline check-in counter.”
The TSA reminded people after the incident that firearm possession laws vary by state and that travelers should check for firearm laws in the jurisdictions they are flying to and from.
Details on how to properly travel with a firearm are posted on the TSA’s website and officials said that travelers should also contact the airline they are flying with to see if there are any additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
(NEW YORK) — Draquine Floyd Jr. was visiting a family member in April when the 7-year-old found a loaded handgun. While handling it, the gun accidentally discharged, killing him, according to police.
Floyd’s grandmother, Dorothy Parks, said what her family is going through doesn’t seem real.
“I will never ever see his little smile again. We will never see you again, not in person. I will never hear his little voice say ‘grandma’ again,” Parks told Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, ABC affiliate WPDE after the shooting.
“Although it’s an accident, you have to be careful. I’m a gun owner myself, but there is no way on God’s green earth that I would want to put anyone’s family through this. You all have got to secure your weapons. Have them, but secure them. Protect our babies. It’s too many of our children dying here,” Parks said.
Floyd’s great uncle has been charged with failure to secure a firearm to protect a minor, according to WPDE.
Floyd is one of 54 children who has died in an accidental shooting by a child this year in the U.S., according to data from nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.
There have been at least 122 unintentional shootings by children across the country from January to mid-May, according data from Everytown. They have resulted in 54 deaths and 77 injuries. The numbers account both for children who accidentally shoot themselves, or others.
The number of such shootings has decreased each of the past three years. There were 131 such shootings from January to mid-May in 2022. There were 141 in 2021, according to Everytown data.
One in three of these accidents is caused by children ages 1 to 5, according to the data.
The highest number of accidental shootings by children — since the group started tracking these incidents in 2015 — happened in 2021.
“But 2020 was also very high. When you start doing an analysis of the data, you can see that these incidents are much more likely to happen on weekends, over the summer, times when kids are home,” Sarah Burd-Sharps, the senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News in an interview.
“That helps you understand a little bit about what’s going on, which is kids getting access to loaded guns that are not securely stored,” Burd-Sharps said.
And even though the number has been trending down, the numbers are not yet at the lows of 2018 and 2019.
Burd-Sharps said the drop in the number of these incidents in the past year and a half is likely due to children spending more time at school and less time at home with the COVID-19 pandemic easing.
How safe storage laws affect child shootings
Many states are introducing legislation aimed at decreasing accidental shootings, such as a safe storage law passed in Michigan in April.
“Several states have recently passed secure-storage laws, which research shows make a huge difference in saving children’s lives,” Burd-Sharps said. “And the hope is that as these laws are passed, these unintentional shootings by children will continue to go down.”
Child access prevention and safe storage laws are “incredibly effective” in curbing gun deaths in children and teens, according to the Giffords Law Center, an anti-gun violence nonprofit started by former Rep. Gabby Giffords after she was shot in January 2011.
“The general idea is that it is the legal responsibility of gun owners to secure their gun so that they’re inaccessible to underage youth,” Daniel Webster, the director of the Gun Policy and Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News.
Child access prevention laws impose a penalty on gun owners who fail to secure an unattended firearm and leave it accessible to an unsupervised minor. In Michigan, for example, gun owners could face misdemeanor charges punishable by up to 93 days in prison, a fine of up to $500 or both, if they fail to safety secure their firearm and a minor obtains it and possesses it in a public place or possesses it in the presence of another person in a careless, reckless or threatening manner, according to the new law.
“These laws lead to fewer unintentional shootings of children. They lead to fewer teen suicides, and they also lead to fewer homicides committed by people under age 18,” Webster said.
“The laws are structured to keep guns from people who legally aren’t supposed to have them. Usually that has been in the context of underage youth, but some laws apply more broadly to keep guns from someone who the law says is too dangerous to have them,” Webster said.
Webster said it is not common for parents to be charged in incidents of children using an unsecured gun and the laws are used “sparingly.”
Safe storage laws require unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way, according to the Giffords Law Center.
“States with no laws that hold gun owners accountable have double to triple the rate of these unintentional shootings,” Burd-Sharps said.
Safe storage laws are generally very popular. A 2019 survey from the American Public Media Research Lab found 78% of Americans either strongly support or somewhat support mandating locked gun storage.
How gun users can protect children
To keep accidental shootings from happening at home, gun owners should store guns securely, unloaded and locked, separate from ammunition, Burd-Sharps said. Keys or passcodes to the locks should also be kept separately.
Last week, a child was killed by another child in Illinois after accessing a gun that the gun owner said was on a high shelf, according to police.
“We recommend that they store their guns unloaded and locked up in gun safes. Gun safes these days you can actually get them small, very affordable ones,” Webster said.
Before sending their children to other homes, parents should consider asking if there is a gun in that home and if it is securely stored, Burd-Sharps said.
“We all can play a role. Doctors can ask that question and help families keep their children safe, law enforcement can help to publicize the importance of secure storage, gun shops are also actively involved in this in some places, making sure that when they sell guns, they talk about secure storage [and] they have signs up about it,” Burd-Sharps said.
A view of the hazy city during bad air quality as smoke of Canadian wildfires brought in by wind in New York, June 7, 2023. — Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — While the Northeast may be unfamiliar with hazy conditions caused by smoke from wildfires, which blew down from Canada, the West Coast is far more familiar.
On the West Coast, wildfires are common, but over the past few years, they have become larger and more widespread, causing more damage.
With Canada currently on track to potentially experience its worst wildlife season ever, meaning New York City and other areas, could see more smoky conditions over the next few months, there may be lessons to learn from how the West Coast handles large blazes.
“I grew up in upstate New York, so I have relatives there, actually talked to a couple of them,” Dr. Michael Coughlan, an environmental anthropologist at the University of Oregon who studies wildfires and fire management, told ABC News. “And one of the comments that one of them had was that, ‘Oh, well, you know, this has never happened before so it’s not gonna happen again.’ And I thought that was an interesting comment.”
He continued, “I do think there’s really a connection between the experience that people have and their preparedness, and their sort of acceptance of this being an issue.”
Reducing wildfire fuels
In the western United States, teams start preparing for wildfire season by removing small trees and shrubs that may fuel fire, Dr. Maureen Kennedy, an assistant professor at University of Washington Tacoma who studies wildfire issues, told ABC News.
They also thin trees from the canopy to reduce the density of the trees, as well as make more room between trees.
Although forests are different on each coast — Western being drier with more softwood trees and Eastern being wetter with more hardwood trees — Kennedy said the principle can be adapted to the local ecosystem.
“For example, in the southeastern U.S., in Florida, they have a really strong maintained prescribed fire regime where folks are doing those kinds of controlled burns to keep the fuels under control,” she said. “And so, I think there is some space for that kind of fuel reduction activity of prescribed fire.”
Coughlan said the concept of forest restoration, which makes forests more resilient, including to wildfires, could be implemented in the east.
“They’re not entirely transferable but the concept is similar,” he said. “The overall concept of forest restoration and building resilience towards wildfire is something that can be done, it is being done in some places, probably not to the extent as it is being implemented in the West, currently but we’re seeing that that could change soon, the need for that restoration could be changing.”
Making communities more prepared for wildfire smoke
Because the East Coast could be seeing similar conditions as Canada goes through its wildfire season, homes and communities could start being more prepared.
Coughlan said in West Coast states, and particularly California, local communities have begun implementing their own response programs to smoke.
“Those things include things like setting up clean air shelters for people to go to, but they also expand towards distributing HEPA air filters that you can put in your homes,” Coughlan said.
“And also just things like helping weatherize people’s houses to sort of seal off smoke, you can actually close your windows and doors, and keep a clean air space in your in your house for a good amount of time during these events, and then also setting up sort of networks of air quality sensors,” he added.
Coughlan said the experience of the Northeast could be a catalyzing event, where people start to pay more attention to how wildfires can have wide-ranging effects.
Paying attention to red flag alerts
While weather service stations and state government bodies have sent out alerts about air quality issues and smoke forecast, Kennedy said it’s also important to pay attention to what could be coming.
Because wildfires are more common in the West — be it from lighting, human activity or something — it is common to have red flag warnings about the increased risk of fire danger.
Several states were under red flag warnings Tuesday due to dry and hot conditions, according to the National Weather Service, but Kennedy said they might not be very well known on the East Coast.
“In the western U.S., we’ve become really familiar with what we call red flag conditions, which are weather service alerts, that are indicating that we have really low humidity and strong winds, which means a small spark can actually erupt into a massive conflagration,” she said. “And so really paying attention to those kinds of alerts, and then just being aware of controlling any activity you have that might actually cause a fire and ignition.”
Authorities are looking for two people after they allegedly approached and harassed a bison calf at a national park in Wyoming on Sunday, June 4, 2023. — National Park Service
(NEW YORK) — Authorities are looking for two people after they allegedly approached and harassed a bison calf at a national park in Wyoming.
The incident occurred in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming at approximately 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 4, when two individuals were seen “approaching and touching a bison calf at the southern end of Elk Ranch Flats in Grand Teton National Park,” read a statement from the National Park Service describing the encounter.
Park rangers are now asking the public for help with their investigation and anyone with any information on the alleged individuals involved with the bison encounter is asked to contact park authorities immediately.
“Interference by people can cause wildlife to reject their offspring,” the National Park Service said. “In this case, fortunately, the calf was successfully reunited with its herd, but often these interactions result in euthanizing the animal. Approaching wildlife can drastically affect their well-being and survival.”
“Summer is a great time to see wildlife in Grand Teton National Park among wildflowers, sagebrush flats, and meandering creeks. It’s important to view wildlife safely, responsibly and ethically,” authorities continued. “Treat all wildlife with caution and respect as they are wild, unpredictable and can be dangerous. The safety of visitors and wildlife depends on everyone playing a critical role in being a steward for wildlife by giving them the space they need to thrive — their lives depend on it.”
The National Park Service took the opportunity to remind people to always be alert for wildlife and to keep a safe distance.
“Always maintain a distance of at least 100 yards from bears and wolves, and 25 yards from other wildlife. Use binoculars, a spotting scope, or a telephoto lens for a good view. Never position yourself between a female and offspring—mothers are very protective. Let wildlife thrive undisturbed. If your actions cause an animal to change their behavior, you are too close,” park officials said.
It is also illegal to feed any wildlife in national parks.
“Wildlife will depend on people for food, resulting in poor nutrition and aggressive behavior,” the National Park Service said. “If fed, any animal may become unhealthy, bite you, expose you to rabies, or need to be killed.”
Anybody with information on the individuals involved with this case should contact the park Tip Line 307-739-3367. Additionally, if you happen to see any harassment of wildlife happening in the park, authorities say you should immediately contact the park’s dispatch center at 307-739-3301 to report the incident.
