Feeding Maine’s Wildlife Only Creates Problems ; Intentionally Attracting Wildlife to Backyards With Food Can Jeopardize the Animals’ Health.

Watching our state’s abundant wildlife, like white-tailed deer and flocks of turkey, is one of the joys of Maine life.

It’s a thrill to see such marvelous creatures, especially in the backyard.

But Mainers who spread food for these wild animals unwittingly jeopardize their health.

That’s a tough message to get across – particularly when people have been encouraged for decades to put out bird feeders in winter to help songbirds weather the cold.

So it’s not surprising that the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is having trouble educating the public about the downside of feeding wildlife. But the reasons are many.

Artificial feeding can discourage turkey and deer from seeking winter shelter and increases the risk of collisions with automobiles.

Concentrating wildlife is an excellent way to spread disease. These include Lyme Disease, which is spread by ticks to people, and Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal neurological malady of deer and elk that has spread to upstate New York.

Once the food runs out, animals conditioned to come to one yard soon turn to the neighbors’ yards.

That’s why IFW supports a bill that would make the intentional feeding of turkey and deer illegal even as officials acknowledge enforcement would be difficult.

Even if the law passes, the agency would be wise to go heavy on education and cite only egregious offenders.

Changing public attitudes can take time, but it can be done.

With a little patience and persistence, the agency should be able to reduce conflicts by teaching residents that respecting wildlife means leaving it to survive on its native wits and wiles.

(c) 2007 Portland Press Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.