Why you shouldn’t feed animals.

Most parks and outside entertainment sites have the sign “don’t feed wild animals” I think this is a well-known and understood idea. Right? Yet why is it that almost every time I am at a place where they have that sign I see one of two people ignoring it and continuing to feed the animals?

People often think, “oh it won’t cause that much harm”, “look at how desperate they are”, or “I know I shouldn’t but it will make my (child/girlfriend/whoever) happy”.

Well it can actually cause more harm than you think, and here is how:

1 The food that you are giving the animals is not healthy for them. What we eat and what they should eat are very different. Sure giving bread to birds is cute but 1 it is not nutritious enough and 2 leaves their digestive system clogged.

2 Increased close contact with wild animals increases disease transmission

3 They will become braver with humans and if they continue to get food from humans they will see humans as a resource which could result in a couple of problems:

Either they will come up to people and get themselves into dangerous situations and get hurt.

For example, They might see an area with lots of humans and the scent of food and go over into a large traffic area and get hit by a car. Or if near an airport get hit by a plane. Both instances can kill both the animal and humans.

Or when someone doesn’t give them food they will fight for the food that it thinks you have and attack people.