Wildlife
There is nothing we can feed wildlife that can adequately replace their own natural diet. Whilst providing certain kinds of foods can cause various problems, the activity itself causes a myriad of ecological problems. Consider the following:
- Rodents often infest areas where wildlife is being fed, due to left over food
- Feeding areas make wildlife an easy target for predators i.e. foxes, dogs and cats
- Wildlife can become aggressive towards people when they become dependant on food and expect to be fed
- Creating feeding areas often leads to excessive wildlife numbers in places too small to accommodate them e.g. the birds at Croydon Library Lake, as well as large amounts of pollution on and around the pathways, picnic areas etc.
- Providing food for wildlife can lead to the poisoning or transmission of diseases through contaminated food
- Feeding wildlife encourages introduced animals to the area and in turn they compete with native wildlife for habitat
When wild animals are dependant on being fed they neglect to teach their young how to forage for food and this dependence is then passed on through following generations. If this food source then ceases, the birds suffer as a result.
When birds are dependant on being fed and lose their natural foraging skills, they need to rely on a fluctuating food supply from humans, sometimes going days without food. This is detrimental to their health.
When birds do not contribute to the food chain by following their natural diet, it can lead to environmental problems such as those associated with a decrease of insect consumption, pest plant invasion, loss of indigenous plants i.e. birds digging up orchid tubers due to starch dependence on bread, and so on.
