A tear-off debris guard for mitigating the passage of debris into an engine compartment of an all-terrain-vehicle having a frontal grill guard integrally equipped with a plurality of vent openings, the tear-off debris guard comprising in combination a protective screen having a geometric configuration proportionally equivalent to the collective area of the vent openings, a frame member fixedly attached to the perimeter of the protective screen for reinforcement during moments of removal, a tear-off tether fixedly connected to an upper portion of the frame member principally serving as a mechanism for handling and removing the tear-off debris guard from the frontal grill guard to maintain continuous air flow into the engine compartment via the vent openings, and a plurality of hook-and-loop fasteners fixedly attached to an inner surface of the frame member to correspondingly engage and mate with those attached to the frontal grill guard.