Forgotten Cheetos snack bag can have 'world-changing' impact, U.S. national park says
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A U.S. national park is cautioning tourists about how a small bag of Cheetos could have an enormous impact.
A U.S. national park is cautioning tourists over how a small bag of Cheetos could have an enormous impact on the surrounding environment.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park posted a photo of a crumpled Cheetos snack bag on Friday, saying it was left off-trail at the park in New Mexico.
Carlsbad Caverns says some incidents can be difficult or impossible to prevent, noting that even a single step a person takes in the cave can leave a trail of lint. But it also said other incidents, such as forgetting trash, are "completely avoidable."
"A spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world changing," wrote national park staff in a Facebook post.
The snack bag had a "huge impact" on the cave's ecosystem, Carlsbad Caverns wrote.
"The processed corn, softened by the humidity of the cave, formed the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi," it wrote. "Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organize into a temporary food web, dispersing the nutrients to the surrounding cave and formations. Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die and stink. And the cycle continues."
It said rangers spent 20 minutes carefully removing the foreign items and moulds from the cave.
