It's Not Love

Love is strong, but it is not as strong as 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 padlocks like this is not love. But rather, littering and a form of graffiti.

 

And so, the US National Parks Service are asking visitors to the Grand Canyon to stop leaving "love locks" on their gates and fences. 

 

And the NPS demand that they stop throwing the keys over the side of the canyon because animals like the California condor (Scientific name: Gymnogyps californianus), love bright and gleaming objects to death. Literally.

 

Condors are curious animals and much like a small child will investigate strange stuff that they come across with their mouths. Condors love shiny things. They will spot a coin, a chocolate 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 is of the crop of a condor where 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.