German tourists shoot paintballs all over Joshua Tree national park in California

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Three German tourists have been cited for firing paintball guns inside Joshua Tree national park earlier this month.

On August 4, a park ranger patrolling a campground inside the California park saw “fresh yellow paintball splatter” on nearby structures and signs, according to a press release. Rangers found at least eleven signs splattered with the yellow paint.

The citation, issued to each of the three tourists, carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The ranger caught the tourists after investigating the paint splatters and finding a slingshot inside a nearby vehicle “in plain view.” The tourists admitted to using a paintball gun and slingshots to fire paint the night before.

Park rangers recovered a paintball gun, paintballs and several slingshots, which are legally considered weapons and prohibited in National Parks, according to the release.

“Defacing or altering the NPS landscape, no matter how small, is against the law,” Joshua Tree national park acting chief ranger, Jeff Filosa, said. “It diminishes the natural environment that millions of people travel the world to enjoy.

“The park is regularly tasked with removing graffiti of all types, using time and resources that could be better dedicated to other priorities.”

Joshua Tree became a national park in 1936 and is made up of the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Across 792,623 acres, the diverse park is home to more than 800 plant species - including the iconic Joshua Tree - more than 250 bird species, and dozens of different kinds of reptiles. Along with its biodiversity, it has world-famous rock formations and attracts more than 3 million visitors a year.

Earlier this year, two tourists were caught on video vandalizing Lake Mead National Park in Nevada.

The footage showed the two men scaling russet-colored formations on the Redstone Dune Trail and shoving large chunks of rock to the ground on April 7. Their actions caused irreversible damage, spokesperson John Haynes told local outlet KVVU.

“Why on earth would you do this to this area that’s so beautiful? It’s one of my favorite places in the park and they’re up there just destroying it. I don’t understand that,” Haynes said.

As of this spring, park rangers had yet to catch the two men.

“It is 1.5 million acres,” Haynes said. “We have two big lakes, a chunk of the Colorado River. It gets pretty difficult based on our staff levels to be everywhere all at once.”