It is detremental to wild animals to teach them to use humans as their
source of food. People have told Harry that this is not healthy for
wildlife, but he is not interested in what is best for wildlife, only what
is good for Harry. Only a self centered idiot would feed wild animals.

from: http://www.nps.gov/brca/feeding_wildlife.html

Feeding wildlife is actually a form of animal cruelty. Animals that are fed
by humans learn to frequent roadsides and parking lots, dramatically
increasing their chances of being run-over by a careless motorist. Most
animals have very specific natural diets and therefore specific kinds of
digestive bacteria. Being fed human food causes the wrong type of bacteria
to become dominant in the stomachs. Soon these animals are no longer able to
digest their natural foods. They end up starving to death with stomachs full
of what they should have been eating all along. What could be more cruel?

http://www.wildlifecareofventura.org...0Why%20Not.htm


Eight reasons why you should not feed wild animals:

Eight Good Reasons
....why you shouldn't feed wildlife

By Anne Muraski
reprinted from the "Quarterly Release,"
Friends of Monterey County Wildlife's newsletter

Wildlife Care of Ventura County volunteers see the ill effects of feeding
wild animals every day. Experts agree that this misplaced kindness is a
major threat to wildlife. Here are a few reasons why you should not feed
wild animals:

1.. Providing an artificial food source causes adults to produce large
families which the natural food supply can't support.
Overpopulation leads to starvation and epidemics of disease. Many of these
diseases are dangerous to humans: bubonic plague, salmonella, psittacosis,
and rabies, to name a few.
Feeding caused the overpopulation of Norway rats that colonized in Pacific
Grove's Lover's Point Park in recent years. The rats were attracted and
sustained by the abundant snacks left for ground squirrels by tourists. The
potential public health hazard prompted the county environmental health
director to order that the city actively enforce its non-feeding ordinance.

2.. It is illegal to feed wildlife.
Ventura County animal control ordinance prohibits feeding wild animals
except for the use of bird feeders. The Marine Mammal Protection Act imposes
hefty fines for persons who harass, disturb or interfere with the natural
behaviors of marine mammals such as whales, sea lions, harbor seals,
pelicans, etc. - this would include providing food to attract the animals or
encourage domesticity. It is also illegal to possess any native wildlife
without a permit: if you find an injured animal, you should call a licensed
rehabilitator in your area immediately.

3.. Wild animals have specialized diets and can die from the wrong foods.
Many people feed wildlife as a form of entertainment; but bread, popcorn,
French fries and picnic leftovers can cause disease, death, mouth injuries
and throat obstructions in animals adapted to eat other foods.
Feeding the wrong diet to a baby animal even for a day or two can
permanently damage developing muscles, bones and tissues, making survival
impossible. Even feeding supposedly "healthy" food is harmful because it
alters the animal's foraging patterns and can cause overpopulation which
ultimately leads to starvation.

4.. Feeding causes wildlife to lose their natural fear of humans.
These animals become easy targets for people who do not respect wildlife
and would hurt them intentionally. Also, there are many people who are
afraid of wildlife and may injure an animal in an attempt to defend
themselves against a mistaken "attack."

5.. You always risk injury when you do not keep a respectful distance from
wild animals who may misinterpret your actions.
Wild animals defend themselves with teeth, beaks, claws, talons, spines,
venom, and toxins to name a few adaptions. There is no guarantee that a wild
animal knows where the food stops and your fingers begin. Sadly, it is
usually the animal which loses when the person feeding complains of being
"attacked." For some reason, many people who would never consider petting a
stray dog will readily approach a wild animal.

6.. Providing food in residential areas often leads to property damage and
unwelcome wild "houseguests."
Wildlife Care of Ventura County receives hundreds of calls each year from
people complaining of damage and disruption to their homes and landscaping
from deer, raccoons and other wildlife. Often this is because someone is
attracting the animal with food either on purpose or inadvertently by
leaving out pet food or not securing garbage.

7.. Feeding changes behavior patterns, sometimes with catastrophic
results.
Such was the case in 1988 when vendors in Monterey were selling fish to
feed to the brown pelicans and sea lions. As a result, many of the birds did
not migrate and the reduced winter food supply couldn't support them. The
Monterey Wildlife Center received hundreds of pelicans sick from
erysphelatrix, a disease the birds contracted from eating the spoiled fish
they learned to scavenge from the wharf garbage bins. The starving pelicans
also were snatching at people's food with their sharp beaks.

8.. Feeding causes injuries and harmful interactions between wildlife
species.
For instance, when fishing operations discard leftover offal into the
ocean after fish cleaning, it forces confrontations between species who
otherwise would not interact. Suddenly, pelicans, who dive for fish near the
surface of the water, and harbor seals, who forage for food in the water
column and near the ocean floor, are forced to compete for food in the same
area, causing injuries which otherwise would not occur. Also, while many
marine mammals and birds eat whole fish, the skin and bones of fish by
itself is not easily digestible, has little caloric value, and can cause
choking and injuries. Fish bones can be very sharp, and Wildlife Care
volunteers have had to remove many fish skeletons from the delicate pouches
and throats of pelicans whose mouths are adapted to swallow whole fish, not
crunch bones. Punctures and lacerations are easily infected, causing a slow
death when animals cannot forage or swallow.

Remember: when people and wildlife interact, wildlife often ends up losing.
Always enjoy wildlife from a distance!



http://www.wildlifecareofventura.org...0Why%20Not.htm










"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"Bryan" wrote in message
m...
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
"Bryan" wrote in message
. ..
"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
No squirrels at home???

Rats. Mice. Opossum. Skunk. Crow. Geese. Pigeon. Dove.
Egret.
That's our suburban backyard. Some call it wildlife. Some call it
suburban wildlife. With the exception of the egrets, I just call it
pests. The lake is a wilderness area compared to our suburban life,
so the kids aren't used to seeing animals in their natural habitat.
Oh yeah, and I haven't seen a squirrel in the 10 years I've lived
here.

Where's "here"?

Sonoma County near Santa Rosa.

I could package up a few dozen squirrels for you, if you're interested.
That would leave me with a few thousand.

My wife feeds the squirrels. Not close to the house, thankfully, but she
does put out their favorite seeds. She feeds all the other critters,
too.
We have a couple of foxes that stop by for dinner at dusk. They really
are
beautiful animals. One of our near neighbors has a pair of llamas, but
they are not roaming the forest.

Many gardeners would take your wife for a one-way boat ride. :-)
Squirrels
can wreak havoc with seed beds. I like them, but there's no need to
attract
them, and *definitely* no need to feed them. I've got my entire garden
caged, just so they won't dig around the various seedlings which are
sprouting all season long. Without cages, I'd never see lettuce, carrots,
or
anything else.




She feeds "her" critters at the edge of our woods, so so far they
haven't come looking for anything other than her offerings. Some of
those offerings ain't too shabby. I left some fishheads out one evening,
and one of the foxes carried them off, one at a time, and then came back
for the tinfoil pie plate.

We grow some container tomatoes and peppers, that's about it. All the
other produce we get from local farmers.