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GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK — Padlocks are often used as a symbol to show affection for another person; however, Grand Canyon National Park rangers don't love this practice at all — and they've had enough.
The national park issued a public service announcement on Facebook last week that has since gone viral, urging people not to leave so-called "love locks" or follow any of the traditions such as throwing a key into the canyon. It adds that rangers will remove any padlocks found within the park.
"People think putting a lock on fencing at viewpoints is a great way to show love for another person. It's not," the post reads, in part. "Leaving padlocks like this is littering and a form of graffiti."
The practice of leaving padlocks is perhaps most associated with the Pont des Arts in Paris, which only dates back to about 2008, to The Travel. As the outlet explains, couples would go to the bridge and leave locks with their names on them and then throw the key out into the Seine River "as a sign of their unbreakable devotion to each other."
But the practice quickly became a safety hazard and the city banned it in 2015, CNN reported at the time.
Grand Canyon National Park officials cite another reason for their concern over padlocks aside from littering. They say it also poses a threat to the California condors, a critically endangered species that can be found in the park.
Park officials wrote that condors are "curious animals" that will "investigate strange things they come across with their mouths," such as coins, wrappers or a key from a padlock. Last week's post included an X-ray image of showing coins in a condor's stomach, which had to be surgically removed to clear the bird's digestive tract.
"Condors are not meant to digest metal and many times cannot pass these objects," park officials wrote. "If a condor ingests too many objects like this, it could die."
California condor populations "dropped dramatically" in the mid-20th century, to the point that there were only about two dozen left in the world in 1982, as noted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It adds that lead poisoning — from bullets and other lead objects — is the "No. 1 known cause" of death of the species.
The agency's latest report, compiled at the end of 2022, found that there are now more than 550 condors worldwide as a result of protection programs implemented for the species. The condors found at Grand Canyon National Park are a part of the same flock found in southern Utah.
However, the park's message comes as Arizona's California condor population tumbled a bit after the national avian influenza outbreak reached the southern end of the Arizona-Utah flock in March. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that 21 condors in the flock died as a result of the flu outbreak, including eight breeding pairs.
Park officials added last week that they hope their message goes beyond just the Grand Canyon, though.
"Padlocks and trash are not anomalies limited to (the) Grand Canyon," they wrote. "Do your part to not contribute to these bad habits and inform others of what can happen to the wildlife if these behaviors continue."
