A Yellowstone Visitor Broke a Cardinal Rule and Drank From a Thermal Spring

Tourists behaving badly are an unfortunate problem in Yellowstone National Park. Between people getting too close to animals, to those who wander off the path into areas that are strictly off limits, visitors at the park have been known to do things that they're not supposed to when visiting the sprawling park.

One rule that they seem to keep breaking over and over again has to do with the thermal pools at the park, which can be dangerously unpredictable at times.

Video has surfaced of a tourist who wasn't content just to look at the natural water formations from a distance, but who instead walked over and got a little too close for comfort.

As a result, people everywhere are criticizing the Yellowstone visitor for drinking from the hot spring, and reminding us all of the reason why we shouldn't drink un-treated water from the park that is so large, it spans multiple states.

An older gentleman was filmed leaning down off the side of a wooden bridge that boarders one of the thermal springs, scooping up some water, and bringing it to his mouth. The video was shared on the Tourons of Yellowstone Instagram page, where people post videos of tourists misbehaving at the park.

People jumped into the comments of the post to chide the man, taking turns mocking him and sharing information about why what he did was so wrong.

"Just a little taste of some hydrogen sulfide-infused water," one commenter wrote. "Cure what ails ya!"

Another person brought up the death of another tourist, who was killed while trying to "hot pot" in the thermal spring, writing about how a 23-year-old was killed when he fell into the extremely hot water.

Unfortunately, due to the temperature and acid content, the man's body dissolved completely before park authorities were able to recover it.

there areThe rules against drinking the water at Yellowstone are in place for a good reason, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website (USGS). That's because these waters are known to contain large amounts of toxic compounds, including arsenic, lead, fluoride, antimony, and mercury.

Then there are the microorganisms that could be swimming around in the water, which the USGS says can include the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria.

It's not just the thermal pools that are unsafe to drink from, either. The USGS says that non-thermal water can also be home to things like E. coli or Giardia, both of which can be removed with treatment. And speaking of treated water, there are apparently several spots around the park where this water collects from rain and snowmelt, which can then be processed and readied for drinking.

Hopefully, the gentleman in the video eventually found some of this water to satiate his thirst while he was there, and then paid a visit to his family doctor when he got home to make sure that he didn't accidentally expose himself to harmful chemicals or ingest anything that could make him sick.