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Pierce Brosnan cited for walking in a restricted geothermal area at Yellowstone park

Pierce Brosnan wears a blue and black tuxedo as he poses for photos on the Golden Globes red carpet.
Pierce Brosnan received a citation for walking in a restricted area at Yellowstone National Park.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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The unrestricted world of Yellowstone National Park was not enough for actor Pierce Brosnan.

The actor known for playing James Bond received a citation for “foot travel in a thermal area” at the Wyoming park, according to the court citation reviewed by The Times.

According to the National Park Service’s Yellowstone safety website, visitors to the park must “always walk on boardwalks and designated trails.” Thermal formations can be very dangerous, with water in hot springs being able to “cause severe or fatal burns” and scalding water underlying “most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs.”

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Do’s and don’ts in Yellowstone National Park: Don’t get within 100 yards of a wolf or bear, or within 25 yards of bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes.

The offense took place on Nov. 1 with the park official citing 36 CFR 7.13(j) of the Yellowstone National Park Code for Regulation. The subsection, titled “travel of trails,” states that “foot travel in all thermal areas and within the Yellowstone Canyon between the Upper Falls and Inspiration Point must be confined to boardwalks or trails that are maintained for such travel and are marked by official signs.”

Representatives for Brosnan did not respond to The Times’ request for comment due to the holidays.

The 2.22-million-acre park is notable, in part, for its more than 10,000 thermal geographic features, including geysers, hot springs and steam vents.

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Yellowstone National Park officials said DNA analysis matched the foot, which was found in August, to Il Hun Ro, who is believed to have died July 31. No foul play is suspected.


Brosnan is scheduled for a mandatory court date at a U.S. District Court in Wyoming on Jan. 23. The actor has been filming the movie “Unholy Trinity,” which also stars Samuel L. Jackson and David Arquette, in a nearby site in Montana.

The thermal features at Yellowstone have led to the death of more than 20 people since 1890, according to NBC News.

Earlier this year, a Michigan man sustained thermal burns after wandering off in a restricted area at Yellowstone while under the influence. The man faces federal criminal charges for the incident and has pleaded not guilty. In a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming, the man was deemed a “danger to himself or others.”

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