The invasion of idiot tourists (tourons) in Yellowstone is back and experts warn of “new levels of stupidity” as the summer season begins.

As tourist season in Yellowstone increases, so do the idiots who ruin it for the rest of us.

Webcams around Yellow Stone National Park have captured multiple cases where ignorant tourists have put themselves in harm’s way for various reasons, ranging from wanting to get close to wildlife or scaling barriers to get a better selfie.

An Instagram account titled ‘Tourons of Yellowstone’ compiles all the cases in which a ‘touron’, the combination of ‘tourist’ and ‘mouron’, commits another incredibly stupid charade, desecrating the park’s rules over and over again.

If anything, the account serves as an example of “what not to do,” as the park’s rules and regulations are linked in the bios of its nearly 500,000 followers.

The account is open to submissions as a way to encourage visitors to hold each other accountable.

A recently presented shorten shows three tourists risking their lives for a snapshot.

“I was at Upper Falls Middle Brink and three people decided to climb the stone wall and get to the side of the mountain to get better photos,” the clip’s title read, quoting the description of the user’s submission.

‘This video was sent to the authorities. Please don’t climb the railings! This is so dangerous! And if you slip, fall and die, then someone will have to risk their life to go get your body!’ reads the rest of the title. ‘Please follow the rules and stay safe! You don’t want to end up in the new edition of ‘Death in Yellowstone’.

In another recent clip from the park’s Old Faithful webcam, footage shows a touron within arm’s reach of a bison, venturing off the established trail to interact with wildlife.

“I was yelling at my computer,” said Connie Witte Reynolds Cowboy State Diary, who watched the scene unfold in a classroom with his students. ‘In fact, a little later there was another bison there with this one. A person came from the other direction and walked within arm’s reach.’

And this is just the beginning of spring. The largest influx of tourists visit Yellowstone during the height of spring or fall. But these tournaments are taking advantage this year.

“We’re already seeing new levels of stupidity this year,” Jen Mignard, owner of the Yellowstone National Park: Invasion of the Idiots Facebook page, told Cowboy State Daily. “I suspect that with even more tourism, we’ll see a lot more really negative actions coming from the park.”

The park’s west entrance and several interior roads have just opened to the public, but videos of tourists wreaking havoc are already circulating on social media.

“The first real incident with a touron I saw was a few days ago,” Mignard said. ‘Someone was lying in the middle of the road, taking a photo of a bison as it walked up the hill towards it. I bet they let him get within twenty feet, then jumped out and ran off the road.

The man in the video had a large professional lens on his camera, designed to capture high-quality magnified images from a distance. Getting closer to the subject with that type of lens ultimately defeats the purpose of the accessory, Mignard said.

By park regulationsTourists should stay at least 100 meters away from bears and wolves, and at least 25 meters away from less threatening animals, such as bison and moose.

But a clip posted Thursday to the tour’s Instagram account showed two tourists walking on the side of the road, approaching right next to a mother and calf bison without any regard for their space.

And this was not an isolated incident. Tourists’ close interactions with wildlife are the most common occurrence caught on camera. Other video shows a line of cars trying to enter the park, with people getting out of their cars to take photos of the bison crossing the road.

“Once people are given free rein to roam the park and think there’s no one supervising them, the rules no longer apply,” Mignard said. “And then it breaks loose and they do some really dangerous activities.”

Mignard said he believes the idealized coverage of Yellowstone on social media has desensitized visitors to the real dangers of wildlife.

“It’s about tourism and this sense of familiarity that people have because they see the photographs,” he said. “And when (tourists) get this false sense of security because of familiarity, it’s a recipe for problems.”

Last year, tourists wreaked so much havoc throughout the national park.

In May 2023, a clueless tourist in Yellowstone National Park was nearly covered in boiling water after wandering toward the famous Old Faithful geyser just before it exploded.

The man was filmed walking towards the hot springs as a crowd of terrified people shouted at him to come back.

He ignored the pleas and walked casually toward the geyser, one of six in the park that regularly erupt at temperatures of up to 244 degrees Fahrenheit.

That same month, two tourists came dangerously close to being gored by bison in Yellowstone National Park in shocking videos released within the span of two weeks.

The video captured a woman reaching out with her hand in an attempt to touch the bison.

In a split second, the bison lunged forward, giving the impression that it was about to attack. The woman quickly backed away in panic, stumbling in the process.

In the background the group’s screams of fear can be heard.