A Pet's View / August 2006
Not One Bite
Feeding wildlife is harmful to the health of wild animals and, it is prohibited by law. Even with the best of intentions, feeding wildlife can result in poor nutrition or illness and contribute to the spread of disease. It increases the opportunity for harmful conflicts
between humans and animal and the biggest loser is usually the animal. Equally damaging is the dependency on people for food that is established. Animals who learn to count on sustenance from strangers can starve when vacations are over.
Both children and adults enjoy feed wildlife
but the animals tend to pay a high price for the pleasure. They can suffer or die.
Although thoughtful, caring individuals will offer wildlife “good” food like apples, for every visitor that feeds apples, there are ten others that offer junk food, from potato chips and popcorn to cookies or candy bars. The total effect by the thousands of people that visit state parks and recreational areas each year is devastating.
What happens is that the balance of natural foods the animal needs to be healthy are replaced by an unbalanced, unhealthy diet. The junk food replaces natural food the deer needs to be healthy. The unnatural food weakens the deer, decreasing its chances of survival during the harsh months of winter.
For deer, when their diet changes, the organisms in their stomach must also change. The right type of stomach organisms must be present in sufficient quantity to properly digest the new food. It’s a gradual process. When abrupt changes in diet occur, it affects the rumen, one of the four compartments of a ruminant’s stomach. This can cause distress and sometimes death for the animal.
Sadly, many animals are killed or wounded
by motor vehicles along park roads each year simply because they are attracted to sites they have come to recognize as roadside feeding
areas.
The wild animals are never really tame, some have simply lost their fear of humans. Still wild, they react unpredictably if threatened
or harassed.
As picturesque and as charming as it can be to feel the nuzzle of a deer, children-and their parents-must resist the urge to reach out and touch any wild animal. A bite or a kick is just one possible consequence, but for the animals, even an apple is forbidden fruit.
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