Keith Kerbs was watching wolves at Yellowstone National Park when he saw a man getting very close to them. That's when he began snapping photos and recording a video that has since gone viral online, sparking outrage.
Watch the story behind the viral video:
"I’ll be honest with you – while I was recording it, I thought this could go viral. It did occur to me, but then I was like, who am I? I'm nobody. Then to see it go like this is kind of crazy," said Kerbs, a photographer visiting the park from Washington state.
Kerbs says he and other wolf watchers were several hundred yards away. He says he was able to capture what he called an "extremely dangerous" decision because he was using a 500-millimeter lens.
"I saw movement, and I saw this guy walking toward the wolves, and I’m like, what is he doing? I really don’t know what his motivation was – I mean, it seems like you would be asking for a disaster if you walked close to a bunch of wolves," Kerbs said.
Emil McCain is the majority owner and founder of Yellowstone Wildlife Tours and organizes safe wolf encounters as part of his job.
McCain says the wolves were six months old, an age when they begin to learn they are top predators. While there has not been a wolf attack in the park before, McCain agrees, a disaster was very possible in this circumstance.
"This was one situation where those wolves were curious about him. They approached him not knowing what he would do, and it could have ended very poorly for him," said McCain.
While tours are a great way to encounter wolves in Yellowstone, not every visitor can take advantage of the opportunity. McCain says there are still tools to help tourists see wolves clearly at a safe distance.
"We stay along that road corridor where we are not venturing into their space. We stay at a respectful distance, and we use either binoculars, which we supply for all of our guests, as well as high-powered spotting scopes," McCain said.
CBS shared a video of this encounter. It can be found here.
