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The story behind the photo: This is a very nice shot
of a Yellowstone chipmunk, but it was one of the least satisfying.
On our travels that day through the Park, Loree and I made a stop at the
pullout for Gibbon Falls. When we got out, we saw a small group of
tourists and a small group of chipmunks. The chipmunks were aggressively
reaching out for tourists who were feeding them. When they were not
getting any food, the chipmunks would sometimes attack. Loree and
I said something out loud to some of the nearby tourists pleading with
them that this was not only against the law but was not at all good for
the chipmunks. No one listened, and we got a few dirty looks in return.
This, of course, did not stop tourists being attacked by chipmunks to express
outrage that the chipmunks were attacking them. On a small scale,
this is exactly what was killing the bears from the park and also causing
human deaths in Yellowstone from bear attacks. Bears used to line
up on the roads begging for food. At night, they would descend on
campgrounds, and many people died. As a result of that and the dependency
of the bears, many bears died to the point of nearly being extinct in Yellowstone.
Since the Park Service aggressively changed its bear management, bear populations
have recovered, and no one to my knowledge has died from a bear attack
since either 1969 or the early 1970s, though people still get mauled from
time to time. Here wild chipmunks were being reduced to the pathetic
condition of this carnival site at Gibbon Falls, with nearby Clarks Nutcrackers
waiting to eat whatever the chipmunks left behind. As I left, I grabbed
several Doritos off the ground, but I'm afraid that I was fighting a losing
battle.
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