Posted on 04/18/2012 5:59:26 PM PDT by SJackson
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — For wildlife enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of wolves, grizzly bears and bison at Yellowstone National Park, the best place to be on the lookout may soon be a cellphone.
New smartphone apps enable people to pinpoint where they've recently seen critters in Yellowstone. People who drive to those locations can — at least in theory — improve their odds of seeing wildlife compared to the typical tourist's dumb luck.
One app called Where's a Bear promises "up to the second" animal sightings in Yellowstone. Recently a website called Yellowstone Wildlife began offering a similar app.
Websites long have kept track of animal sightings in Yellowstone. Already this spring the Yellowstone Wildlife site shows signs of life: Mule deer near park headquarters at Mammoth, bison in the area of a landmark petrified tree.
A message on the site warns of grizzlies feeding on a bison carcass near the Yellowstone River Trail. The statement relayed from the National Park Service could save a life. Grizzly attacks killed two tourists in Yellowstone last summer.
But not everybody thinks that making a lot of wildlife sighting information readily retrievable by phone is a hot idea. As it is, the crowds that stop to gawk at roadside wildlife in Yellowstone can grow to hundreds of people, pointed out Vicky Kraft, of Pine Mountain, Calif., who maintains a Facebook group about Yellowstone.
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Lots of these critters are collared. An ap could track them over the forest and through the woods for tourists. Might diversify their diet.
Lots of these critters are collared. An ap could track them over the forest and through the woods for tourists. Might diversify their diet.
I was at Yellowstone last summer and saw a grizzly bear near Tower Junction. I have been to Yellowstone several times since I used to live in Montana when I was in the Air Force. This was my first sighting of a bear. The other special animal that I saw a few years earlier was a moose.
Well I saw a whole flock of turkeys in my yard this morning with the tom in full flare!
We’ve been here 27 years,and it is interesting how the parade of wildlife has changed over the years. We used to never have turkeys, but we’d see the occasional fox, or coyote. We have lots of turkeys now. Spotted a wolf a couple of months ago, and we have a herd of 8 deer that trek through here almost daily.
And I live on 12 acres in the CITY!
Whenever you’re driving down the road and you see a bunch of cars parked by the side of the road, like as not they’ve seen a wild critter. While I was driving over the Rockies from Alberta to B.C. last summer, my wife saw some cars parked by the side of the highway and excitedly told me to pull off and park. Sure enough, a mama bear and two cubs were moseying along by the side of road. Later on, she had me stop after seeing some parked cars and again, we saw another bear. First time I’ve seen bears after going out west almost every year for the past ten years. Been to Yellowstone four times and never saw one bear.
Dear God in Heaven......
Yellowstone had a couple of tourists lose encounters with bears last year, and now they want to have an “ap” so every goof in the park can come run and play Look At The Large Predator?
If I needed any more excuse to avoid Yellowstone like the plague (I live an hour drive from the place), that should do the job. /sarc
The black bears have really started to make a comeback here in Central Kentucky. I had one cross the road in front of me two years ago, my parents saw one alongside the road last year, and a local vet hit one with his truck (there's irony for you), stunning it but it quickly recovered and took off into the woods, this past fall.
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