A YouTube clip from Montana has left viewers shaking their heads (and, let’s face it, internally cheering a little) after two men learned the hard way that taunting wildlife isn’t a good idea.
The short video posted by ABC7 (@ABC7) shows the pair approaching a moose standing on the side of an icy road. One man creeps up and touches the animal on its hindquarters, only to slip and fall as the massive creature whirls around in response.
The moose charges as the men scramble away. Lucky for them, neither was hurt — but it was a close call that could have easily turned deadly. Moose are powerful and unpredictable, and encounters like this can end in serious injury for both humans and animals.
As wildlife experts so frequently remind people, wild animals are not props for social media and deserve distance and respect. In national parks, approaching animals closely like this can lead to fines and even bans. Not only is harassing wildlife dangerous for people, but it can also injure and stress the animals. Plus, in some cases, animals are euthanized after harming people — even if they were provoked.
Sadly, this is only one example of many swirling on the internet showing people harassing wildlife or just getting too close. From tourists provoking a bull elk in Colorado to people feeding wild animals and getting too close to large predators like bears — yes, bears. This sort of behavior is unbelievably more common than it should be.
Conservation groups such as the Wildlife Conservation Society and widely accepted principles like Leave No Trace offer simple, science-based guidelines for safely sharing spaces with wildlife — including giving them plenty of space, avoiding feeding or startling them, and reporting harassment (like the men in the video) to local authorities.
Viewers flooded the comments with outrage and disbelief.
“That moose was tame in its charge here. They were lucky that’s all it did,” one user wrote, while another added, “In my state that is 100% illegal….you can NOT harass the wildlife.”
Others called for fines or criminal charges, pointing out that harassing wildlife is both dangerous and unlawful in many states, including Montana.
As more than one commenter summed it up perfectly: “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
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