The man, along with two other hikers, was not just found guilty of being present in the prohibited area, but also of violating basic rules. He pleaded guilty and was fined $600 (Rs 44,377.92) for each of the charges. (Source: Pixabay)In a strange turn of events, a man was banned from the Yellowstone National Park in the US for two years after he was caught cooking chicken near one of the hot springs inside the park! According to several local news outlets, the man from Idaho was part of a group of 10 hikers, who were visiting the Shoshone Geyser Basin — a thermal region prohibited to hikers and visitors.
How it happened
Some rangers present at the park received information from some locals about the bizarre happening. When they reached the spot, they saw that two whole chickens were submerged in one of the hot springs, and near it was a cooking pot. The man in question, along with two other hikers, was not just found guilty of being present in the prohibited area, but also of violating basic rules. He pleaded guilty and was fined $600 (Rs 44,377.92) for each of the charges. Additionally, he has also been asked to serve two years of unsupervised probation and has been banned from entering the park for the duration of the period.
But, this is not the first time that such an incident has happened. In 2001, a prominent TV personality from Seattle is believed to have dug a hole near one of the hot springs for his TV show and cooked a chicken. He simply wanted to show the world how natural heat can be used for cooking purposes. But the man was slapped with a fine of $150 (Rs 11,096.25) and was also put on a two-year probation period for “disturbing mineral deposits in a national park”.
The hot springs in Yellowstone National Park are off-limits for visitors because they can be dangerous and unpredictable. The US government has, therefore, forbidden people from putting anything in the piping hot waters for their own safety and security. If caught trespassing, you can be heavily fined.
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