Entitlement Versus Mother Nature

I am on vacation visiting a national park in Hawaii. Among other natural and historical wonders is a beach where sea turtles regularly haul out to rest and sun themselves. You are allowed to get pretty close to the turtles, but there are numerous large signs posted stating that it’s a federal crime to touch, feed, or otherwise harass them since they are an endangered species.

While I am taking photos of the adorable reptiles, a woman and her daughter come over to look at them. While the woman doesn’t immediately do anything to raise alarm, she is talking loudly and being generally obnoxious, so I decide to look at something else for a few minutes and then circle back to the turtles.

When I come back, the woman is being confronted by a rather angry-looking park ranger. Apparently, the lady plopped her daughter on the back of one of the turtles for a photo just as the ranger rounded the corner to the beach.

I didn’t stick around to find out what happened, but I assume the woman was given a fine of an amount in the four- to six-figures variety, if not a court date. The last thing I heard as I walked away was her wailing, “But I thought it was dead!”