Visitors to the Smokies told to stop moving rocks after hellbender found crushed

by: Hope McAlee

Posted: Sep 17, 2025 / 02:59 PM EDT

Updated: Sep 17, 2025 / 04:26 PM EDT

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (WATE) — The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is urging visitors to stop stacking and moving rocks after an eastern hellbender was found crushed.

The park shared that the crushed hellbender, which is part of the largest species of salamanders in North America, was found under rocks that had been moved and stacked by park visitors.Maryville College plans new $80M science center focused on Southern Appalachia

Although making dams, channels or rock stacks can seem like harmless activities, for the wildlife that live under those rocks, it can be deadly. There are fragile ecosystems under the stones like nests, and shelters.

Hellbenders lay between 100 and 300 eggs under rocks in the late summer and early fall. When someone disturbs or moves a rock, they could unknowingly be the reason entire generations are lost in an instant, the park said.

“In the Smokies, everything is protected, even the creatures you can’t always see. Help keep them safe: leave no trace and leave the rocks where they are,” the park wrote.Rarely seen amphibian spotted in Kentucky stream: What it may mean for the ecosystem

Find more Smokies news on WATE.com.

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing the eastern hellbender as an endangered species. The giant salamander is one of two hellbender subspecies, and the other, the Ozark hellbender, has been listed as endangered since 2011. Previous surveys documented more than 600 populations, but recent data indicated that less than 60% of those populations remained. Of those, more than half were in decline.