Here’s a word of advice: pick up your trash. It’s not hard, an definitely easier than paying a fine.
ABC affiliate KTVX reports that a 50-year-old woman — let’s call her ‘Camper Karen’ — had to pay the fine because she refused to clean up her messy campsite at Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park last month, which then attracted a grizzly bear to the campsite.
Campers snapped photos of the grizzly having a grand ol’ time going through the drinks and garbage the woman left behind. The bear had to be tranquilized and moved, says the U.S. attorney’s office, with park officials hoping it didn’t develop a taste for human food and make a hobby out of raiding campsites.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman in Mammoth Hot Springs slapped the woman with a $5,800 fine for the whole thing, as well as with a misdemeanor charge of improper food storage. The fine covered the cost of relocating the grizzly.
Officials say the bear could be killed if it comes back and ransacks another campsite.
Grand Teton Superintendent Chip Jenkins said of the woman-made problem, “Irresponsible behaviors have consequences and many times it is the wildlife that pays the ultimate price.”