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yeah feeding ducks is not the best idea. If you do feed them it should be done in such a way so they don't know it's you doing it, otherwise they will associate you with the food and become beggars. Take the food, place it somewhere when they are not around, and walk away from a distance. You will still increase their populations and make things worse, but they won't turn into beggars who stop knowing how to get their own food.
If you watch a wild duck it knows how to find food in the grass.
A lot of people seem to do it, but yes it's a bad idea all around. I don't like that they become less wary of people after getting fed either, because there are people out there that would hurt them.
In my country (France) they throw whole stale baguettes at ducks and swans. The stale bread then flounders, and may pollute rivers and ponds (the problem is even acute in some urban neighborhoods).
I believe the general public lacks education in the way to handle animals that are not pets.
In my country (France) they throw whole stale baguettes at ducks and swans. The stale bread then flounders, and may pollute rivers and ponds (the problem is even acute in some urban neighborhoods).
I believe the general public lacks education in the way to handle animals that are not pets.
The extremely tiny number of wild animals that get human handouts is so irrelevant in the big picture, that they could all die off tomorrow morning, and it was have no impact at all on the total populations or viability of those species.
Human degradation of the habitat kills a thousand wild animals, for every one that is a casualty of human handouts. Humans destroy an entire wetland habitat to build a mall, and then bellyache about the harmful effects of tossing crumbs to a few hardy survivors in the parking lot.
Every fall, right before hunting season, ads hit every outdoor flier advertising deer corn. In almost every state it is illegal to 'bait' deer. In some states it is illegal to bait deer for months before the season. So the question I have is: why do we even allow a product to be sold that is called “Deer Corn” during the prohibited months?
I guess what I am getting at is that we are hypocrites when it comes to feeding wild birds and wild animals. We could stop the source of the problem or at least tone it down (perhaps not call corn “deer corn”).
We like to feed some wildlife. There is a very fine line between how much feeding is beneficial and how much can damage. We have ducks and some wild ones will fly in and help themselves to our duck's food. As long as it is only a few wild ones and not all the time; we do not mind. If it becomes too many and all the time; then we would stop the outside feeding. We have also fed deer and wild turkeys in the (non-hunting season) harder winter months – until the snow clears.
Back in the 1950's and 60's our PA Game Commission used to encourage people to feed the deer during the long winter months. They even gave us guide lines on how to do that. However; many recent winters have not been that hard.
speaking of feeding wildlife:
We had a very ignorant neighbor who threw all her table scraps over her deck railing and soon thereafter a young fox would emerge from the nearby woods to eat. this went on for months and she thought it was so wonderful. Neighbors tried to tell her what a mistake she was making and that her own grandchildren were in danger from this wild animal. Finally when her grandkids became scared she stopped feeding the fox. Not long after several neighborhood cats started showing up mangled or disappeared---including my own beloved Pumpkin. The fox became rabid and animal control had to come take it away and kill it. The stupid neighbor declared she was not responsible for this fox staying in our neighborhood even though she fed it at least 3 times every day. She never did see the connection!
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