Cavechat.org

I ran across this during my usual cave surfing in the web:

Photographs of Deliberate and Accidental Cave/Karst Vandalism

It's a collection of photographs showing cave damage by managers, vandals and public visitation that was started by the Western Australian Speleological Group.

That is a very interesting website, thanks.

How in the heck do you get hair stuck in a soda straw?

And that garbage pile under "damage through inappropriate development" is horrible.

You're welcome Jasen! My favorite is “The Halo” helectite, it WAS very unique.

When anyone scratches their head some hair and dead skin will fall off. These can be carried by drafts and deposited on the formations.

We don’t realize how much we leave in the caves at the macro & microscopic levels. The health care products we use can’t be healthy for the cave organisms. No matter how well we rinse when we bathe there are residuals left on our body. Especially when we go to the wet areas of a cave I’m sure we leave skin lotion, deodorants, foot powder, cream rinse, mink oil on our leather goods, the fabric softener on our clothes, etc.

Hmmm, maybe we should disinfect before going into caves?

After seeing wvdirtboy’s Pagoda Stalagmite Destroyed photo I thought this topic can continue by posting other (newer) vandalism photos.

So, with wvdirtboy’s permission:

wvdirtboy wrote:Before (2007) and after (Nov 2009) pictures of a pagoda stalagmite in Norman Cave, WV. Someone knocked it over and also decapitated a bell-shaped stalagmite with a cylindrical top. The damage was probably done in late October or early November 2009. The upper right photo is poorly framed - the stump is not leaning.

Cavechat discussion at: Norman Cave Vandalized

In the Cacupangan Cave System, Mabini, Pangasinan, Philippines:



The story I got from the locals is people would break formation to sell but the authorities put a stop to it. These are the leftover stalagmites that literally look like they were harvested so the room was dubbed “Logged Room2.” (Yep, there are two rooms like this!)

And to think....we thought we were the only ones with this problem, here in the USA mainland.

No tncaver, the problem is global. Doing websearches using the keywords "cave vandals X" where X = countryname will show the problems faced by that country. It just a matter of degree.

pub wrote:No tncaver, the problem is global. Doing websearches using the keywords "cave vandals X" where X = countryname will show the problems faced by that country. It just a matter of degree.

Thanks for the websearch idea Jerry. I'll have to check that out. I keep hearing how little vandalism there is in England where
all the caves are open and their locations pretty well known. Here in the USA it is the open well known caves that ARE vandalized
in most instances. Most open caves that are not well known by locals are in mostly pristine condition. That is why I've always
questioned "educating the public about caves". I suppose educating them is ok so long as they don't know where any caves
are. But if you educate the public, then they are going to want to find some caves to go in. Out of site out of mind. But when
you put the idea in their head, they are going to look for caves. And lets face it, some people have bad intentions.

Lascaux Cave was vandalized some 20,000 years ago!!!

tncaver wrote:And lets face it, some people have bad intentions.

I hear ya, tncaver.

Caving is no different than any other discipline and education in that discipline will be absorbed by the good, bad & the ugly. Take chemistry, the advances for the good of mankind are accompanied by those detrimental to mankind, etc. etc. The question is how to keep education away from the bad & ugly especially when some can from the good? Police crossing the thin blue line comes to mind…

Then there’s education per se, how a subject is taught is as important as the facts being taught. I just realized that many of us were part of the general public before we became cavers. I am hoping to be taught by those willing to share their wisdom with me in a way that reflects their philosophy.

graveleye wrote:Lascaux Cave was vandalized some 20,000 years ago!!!

Thanks graveleye. It’s interesting to find out how extensive the preservation measures have been since it has been open to the public.


These works are in the public domain

graveleye wrote:Lascaux Cave was vandalized some 20,000 years ago!!!

That's my feeling! Where I live they want to the name caves after the vandals who scratched or painted their names on the cave walls!

With permission of Robert Kelly Bostian:

Inset by pub for readability

Robert Kelly Bostian wrote:I'd guess this destruction was unintentional , Ignorance and wonder , desruction nonetheless. This cave is Thom Lod in Mae Hong Son, Thailand. It also contains several teakwood coffins estimated to be nearly 4000 years old and the swallow migrations at dusk are truly amazing. They have attendants, one was a college age female and the poor fellow who pulled the raft upstream was probably 40.He pulled us all the way thru with several stops and then pulled us all the way back.