Miley Cyrus is facing some serious backlash and possibly more for endangering a Joshua tree during her sexy photo shoot. When she posted her images from the shoot on her social media account, she got up to 1.3 million likes, although that is not all she got.
The "Wrecking Ball" singer posted some photos of herself on Instagram atop a Joshua tree while on her photo shoot. While the 26-year-old music artist looked cute in her multi-colored onesie, not everyone was particularly impressed by the images showing her astride the protected species of succulent from which the Joshua Tree National Park in Los Angeles, California, got its name.
The Joshua tree is protected by County and City laws which forbid any close contact with the succulent in any form, whether "hanging, climbing, sitting" even "touching or hugging" these, as one Instagram user commented.
Another point taken up was that, since the Joshua tree is very fragile, "weight or pressure" exerted on it could harm the trees and cause these to break or even fall. Even more serious is that the tree has very shallow-reaching roots, which means that very little push or pull on these could topple them over easily, according to the same commenter on Cyrus' Instagram post.
An obvious reason for staying off these protected species of succulent is that people could get hurt falling off in instances of branches collapsing or breaking from any pressure exerted.
Her post had invited some 4,300 comments, and not all were complimentary. The controversial star was alternately called "selfish," ignorant," even "shameless" for her brazenness and seemingly uncaring attitude in the matter.
Some of the star's fans defended Cyrus, saying that it was possible the singer was not aware of this prohibition and asked the erring star to delete her pictures from social media before anything drastic happened.
Still many complimented Cyrus for looking "amazing" during her shoot, although a lot of horrified 'Grammers also tried to educate her on such "trees" not being made to be "climbed on" but instead "admired."
Despite all the hullaballoo surrounding her social media faux pas, the songwriter has yet to take the advice of her followers, as her pictures have remained posted.
In the meantime, the former Hannah Montana is earning the ire and censure from serious conservationists who have worked hard in preserving the near-endangered succulent species, one advising the young singer to cease posting such pictures as they have only served to prove to the masses that she valued her "vanity" more than the "fragile ecosystem" she was posing in.
It was also pointed out that it was difficult enough to have people avoid climbing the Joshua tree without Cyrus, considered a great public influencer, showing herself doing an example of what not to do.
Joshua trees, known scientifically as Yucca brevifolia, remain protected under California state law. Under Federal law, any damage to national park wildlife and plants is prohibited.
