Grand Canyon National Park is urging tourists to stop using a popular viewpoint to make declarations of love by leaving behind padlocks attached to a chainlink fence. The practice of latching “love locks” to the protective fencing surrounding area and then tossing the key over the canyon’s rim may seem like a romantic gesture but it actually threatens local wildlife.
Grand Canyon National Park officials warns that these keys end up being consumed by the condors who are attracted to shiny objects and they caught in the endangered scavenger birds digestive tracts which could kill them. When park rangers find new locks they immediately remove them to curb the trend.
“Love is strong, but it is not as strong as our bolt cutters.” -Grand Canyon National Park
If you plan on visiting Grand Canyon National Park and want to make grand proclamation of love consider a poem or some other type of zero impact activity, just don’t stop at the hardware store before you enter the park. Remember park officials categorize love locks in the book as littering and a “form of graffiti” and instead of remaining in place until the end of time, they will shorn off with bolt cutters and end up at the recycling center in short order.
Grand Canyon National Park Statement:
“Love is strong, but it is not as strong as our bolt cutters.
Padlocks left behind on fencing are called Love Locks. People think putting a lock on fencing at viewpoints is a great way to show love for another person. It’s not. Leaving pad locks like this is littering and a form of graffiti. But because people will throw their padlock key into the canyon the scenario becomes worse and more dangerous specifically for a rare and endangered animal of the canyon.
Condors are curious animals and much like a small child will investigate strange things they come across with their mouths. Condors love shiny things. They will spot a coin, a wrapper, or a shiny piece of metal, like a key from a padlock that has been tossed into the canyon and eat it. Condors are not meant to digest metal and many times cannot pass these objects. The X-ray image on this post is of the crop of a condor. You can see coins lodged in the digestive tract of the bird. This bird had to be operated on to clear the obstructions. If a condor ingests too many objects like this, it could die.
Objects are thrown from the rim every day. Padlocks and trash are not anomalies limited to Grand Canyon. Do your part to not contribute to these bad habits and inform others of what can happen to the wildlife if these behaviors continue.”
