Some people aren’t going to like this but it’s a truth I feel strongly about. I learned from those who know and changed my ways. For goodness sake, please stop feeding wild animals.
It’s Dangerous
When I ate an apple in a car, I used to toss the core in the ditch, reasoning that it was natural and an animal might enjoy eating it. Or it would simply rot into the earth. It was something my mother did. Banana peels, pear cores, whatever remnants of fruit we had on board was handled this way.
Then Brian Salt of Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Centre explained that any kind of food near a road poses a danger to animals. It draws them closer to traffic and makes it more likely they’ll get hit by a vehicle. I don’t toss cores anymore.
There’s another danger in normalizing the animal-human relationship. It’s great when a deer doesn’t freak out at the sight of you but they should at least be wary. After all, some humans carry guns and their goal is to shoot first, ask questions later. I’d rather that an animal run away from me than have some illusion that all human are pals. Not everyone has kind intentions.
Visitors to animal reserves are told not to feed the critters but many do anyway. A man in Romania was recently attacked by a bear he stopped to feed despite being told not to. The bear shattered his car window and bit him while trying to drag him out of the vehicle. His seatbelt saved him. He’s lucky to be alive and the fool still says he did “nothing wrong.”
It’s Disruptive
But we put out bird seed, you say. Yes, we do, because birds explore wide territories, thousands of kilometres, and seed supplements their diet when they need it. Sure, some greedy feathered friends will stay and gorge like it’s the free buffet at a work function. But storebought bird seed has been developed to mimic the bird’s natural diet. It’s not the same as putting out pasta leftovers for the neighbourhood possum.
Animals teach their babies how to forage. If they become dependent on an easy source from Madge’s back porch, and Madge moves away, they could starve. By using feeders, birds don’t associate food with humans the way other animals do. This keeps the bird/person relationship at feather’s length.
Leaving food outside can attract rats and mice. Except for dramatic circumstances, a person can’t always tell whether an animal is hungry. And if it’s physically malnourished or acting weird, it’s time to call an expert. In the Port Stanley area, that’s Fur-Ever Wildlife Rehabilitation. Colleen knows what to do, how to humanely trap, and where to take bothersome or sick animals.
It’s Arrogant
Unless there’s a dire circumstance like a forest fire where animals have been displaced – and even then, experts should be consulted – there is no reason to feed a non-pet that crosses your path. They forage and survive just fine during the other 364 days of the year. What makes a human think the animal needs their help? Because they don’t have a debit card and aren’t allowed in stores?
Under the guise of kindness, many people anthropomorphize animals and give them human qualities they just don’t possess. An animal isn’t approaching a human to get food because there’s a special bond. It’s not friendship. It does it because it’s easier than finding food of their own.
I’m going to borrow a line from a thirty year old movie, The Truth About Cats and Dogs. In it, a veterinarian played by Janeane Garofalo counsels a man who’s letting his cat lick him for hours at a time. I think it applies here to people who attribute human thinking to the animals they feed: “Repeat after me. Us. Them. Us. Them. Us…them…”