The government shutdown is having some very smelly consequences.
National parks have seen their toilets and trash cans overflow since the Interior Department's funds ran out late last year. And in less than a month, that shutdown has undone years of work that kept bears and other wildlife healthy, National Geographic reports.
Despite most national parks technically being closed during the shutdown, there are no paid employees on the grounds to stop visitors from coming. Bypassing entrance fees, parkgoers have gone off authorized trails and camped in unsafe areas. They've also overflowed trash cans and pit toilets, creating a danger to human and animal health.
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Beyond the obvious dangers of raw sewage, animals have also been tempted by the human food that's no longer being cleaned up. "For the past couple of decades, the park service has worked hard to wean the black bear population from human food," says former National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis. But now, it's likely bears and coyotes will again start associating humans with food, increasing "the risk that an animal could attack or have to be euthanized," he tells National Geographic.
Unauthorized campers at Yosemite National Park reported bears pushing against their cars and trailers last week, and one made it into some trash, per the Los Angeles Times. It's all shaping up to create problems that could "last generations" or perhaps never be fixed, a director at the National Parks Conservation Association tells National Geographic.
