Handouts Harm, Don’t Help, Wildlife
VPG | Jan 26, 2014 | Comments 0
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Winter is here and that means animals will have to search a little harder for food. Colorado Parks and Wildlife wants to remind people that the best way to help hungry animals is to let them find their next meal on their own.
“People may mean well, but those who feed deer do more harm than good,” said Kevin Madler, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer in Walsenburg.
A law passed in 1992 makes it illegal to feed big game animals. This includes deer, elk, pronghorn, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, mountain lions and bears. Feeding wildlife is bad for the animals and dangerous for people, for a number of different reasons.
In the wild, deer and elk naturally spread out when grazing or browsing for food. Artificial feeding encourages them to crowd together making it easier to spread disease throughout a herd.
Deer are the primary prey of mountain lions and a large gathering of them can attract lions into neighborhoods, putting people and pets at risk. The mountain lions are also then put in danger because it may become necessary to kill them if they become a threat to human health and safety.
“If you want to do wild animals a favor, don’t change their natural behavior. Watch them from a distance and allow them to remain wild,” Madler said.
Wild animals have complex digestive systems and their natural diet is difficult to duplicate. Food from human sources can lead to malnutrition, a disruption in natural migration patterns and death.
To report incidents of feeding or other illegal wildlife activity contact a local Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer. If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Operation Game Thief at877-265-6648. Rewards may be offered is the information leads to a citation.
For more information, please visit:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/
Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages 42 state parks, more than 300 state wildlife areas, all of Colorado’s wildlife, and a variety of outdoor recreation. For more information, go tocpw.state.co.us.
###
For more news about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us/
For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.
Contact Name: Abbie Walls
Contact Phone: 719-227-5211
Filed Under: Education • Environment • Tourism
About the Author:
