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In Pursuit of Prehistoric Photo Ops

March 29, 2021

Admit it. If you could travel back in time, just once, it wouldn’t be to kill baby Hitler or buy Apple stock. It would be to ride a dinosaur. Selfie that thunderlizard!

Throughout the Photography Age (especially during the Smartphone Epoch), tourists have flocked to outdoor statues for triumphant “I’m here and you’re not” poses. Climbing on large sculptures for snaps is not without precedent, but today’s self-documenting boasters aspire to ever loftier perches.

A recent example, reported in the Yakima County Scanner, occurred on March 22, 2021, when a 19-year-old woman crawled up the back of one of the dinosaur statues (a T. rex) in Granger, Washington, and then couldn’t get down. The fire department had to be called in, a passer-by recorded the whole thing, and the woman became a hit online — but not in the way she wanted.

A dismount assist by first responders always results in unflattering angles… and the Internet never forgets.

The publicity is good for Granger. As long as there was no injury or damage, liability insurers sleep soundly. The fire department proved their Jurassic Extraction Training Workshop in Hawaii was no boondoggle. The world’s dinosaur statue designers roll up their sleeves and consider safeguards to discourage future bronco busting.

Or instead: add stairs and a saddle? Yep, that works.

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