Close Encounter With Bighorn

What is it with us and wildlife encounters? Here's another lesson in what NOT to do...

So, we're in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies, along a major highway. This was our third sighting of a herd of bighorn for the evening and by the time we spotted them, there were way too many people clustered around them.

We parked our open-topped miata a ways down the road in order to avoid boxing the herd in and bothering them. No one else seemed to care that the bighorn is very easily bothered by close proximity to people.

Further, we cut the car engine and set up to take a few pictures. We have nice, long lenses, we don't need to get close. Apparantly, we are non-threatening, because about 10 bighorn proceeded to trot right down the road and surround our convertible.

We were way too close.
They were way too close.

In a very short time, we were on display, and cars were surrounding US, too.

We didn't want to startle the bighorn herd by starting the car, so we stayed still and talked quietly.

They didn't leave. In fact, the big ram came right up to my passenger side window and I had to keep the camera in front of me to avoid being nibbled on. Meanwhile, this lesser bighorn went behind the car and started licking it, likely because of the salty roads.

It was an odd encounter. We were not comfortable. We were not planning on such close proximity.

Eventually, the bighorn got bored with us and moved away, but then some foolish people scared them back to us. They had us basically surrounded. Finally, they moved off to the side and we started the car and carefully moved on.

All this time, unobservant people flew by on the 2-lane highway at high speed, just inches from these endangered animals.