Every now and again, campers in Australian national parks come under fire for taking wood for their campfire, or tying ropes around trees, or leaving toilet paper littering the undergrowth.
But the two American Boy Scout leaders who have caused outrage around the world for their antics in at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah have taken environmental irresponsibility to a whole new level.
A video taken by Dave Hall, of his friend Glenn Taylor purposely pushing over an ancient rock formation has gone viral on the internet and sparked death threats against the men.
The two men and Taylor’s son, Dylan, can be
Then … begin mindlessly pushing against 170-million-year-old rock formations
seen cheering wildly when the 170 million-year-old red rock pillar finally topples
“Yeah!” Hall cheers excitedly in the video. “We have now modified Goblin Valley! A new Goblin Valley exists with this boulder down here at the bottom.”
The two men have since been stripped of their positions as Boy Scout leaders.
The Scouts’ Utah National Parks Council said the men violated the organisation’s “leave no trace” policy in the park.
“As an organisation that has been a leader in
Next … a huge self-satisfied smile when it topples over
conservation for more than a century we were shocked and saddened by this irresponsible display of behaviour and apparent disregard for our natural surroundings,” Boy Scouts spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement.
Utah state parks officials have also launched a criminal investigation to determine if any laws have been broken.
The men claim they thought the stone posed a danger and that they toppled it to prevent someone being injured if it fell on its own. Park officials say they have never heard of a visitor being injured by a falling boulder.
Goblin Valley is famed for its eerie Mars-like landscape, which is covered with ancient sand-
Finally … high fives all round for a job well done!
stone goblins and mushroom-shaped formations.
Have you seen visitors causing damage to our national parks, or defacing ancient rocks? Should the Boy Scout leaders face criminal charges? Comment below.
Nearly as bad as graffiti on rocks “I was here in ——-“