Don't. Feed. The. Wild. Animals.

[Brad Johnson]

Arizona woman dead after apparently being trampled by an elk.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/arizona-woman-dies-elk-tramples-backyard-first-fatal-attack-reported-state

Bucket of feed corn strongly suggests she was feeding the animal(s). My guess is it wasn't the first time, and likely several animals in the mix.

I don't get why people can be so dense. "Don't feed/approach the wild animals" has been trumpeted for generations yet Yellowstone bison play Tourist Polo on an almost daily basis. Just because the Majestic Animal happens to be in your backyard and seems to really like the corn you provide, it's still a will animal. In this case, a very large wild animal. Just don't, m'kay?

Brad

[HankB]

I posted an example (Reply #3) of stupidity around wild animals in this old thread:  https://armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=32268.msg641396#msg641396

[K Frame]

Part of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia was shut down last week because a couple of people attempted to hold a young bear, apparently to get pictures with it.

[MechAg94]

Part of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia was shut down last week because a couple of people attempted to hold a young bear, apparently to get pictures with it.

If they would have just asked Moma bear first, they would have been okay.   

[WLJ]

Wild animals are wild. Who could have guessed?

[dogmush]

Meh.  Humans need more predation.  If you think that Nature will recognize your intrinsic specialness and the animals will flit about you 'ala Snow White in the cartoon, be your best self and feed the little buggers.

May I also suggest letting your purse dog play with the coyotes to save on Doggy Daycare bills.

[HankB]

In one of his African books (Safari, the Last Adventure) the late Peter Hathaway Capstick included a chapter with the title Everything Bites.

Carelessly messing around with wild animals of any sort is not recommended.

[MechAg94]

Meh.  Humans need more predation.  If you think that Nature will recognize your intrinsic specialness and the animals will flit about you 'ala Snow White in the cartoon, be your best self and feed the little buggers.

May I also suggest letting your purse dog play with the coyotes to save on Doggy Daycare bills.

Technically, there is 2 legged predation.  These people still behave as if it doesn't exist.

[230RN]

My end of the building seems to attract people who like to attract animals.  In the tenant flux there's almost always someone back here who feeds the critters.  In one respect it's OK because it provides the possibility of meat on the hoof if needed.  I have pics of the literally dozens of tracks in the snow under my window.  Rabbits, squirrels, and magpies are the main characters.

It's illegal to feed wild animals, with a fairly recent exception from 10-15 years ago:  Bird feeders are OK.  But one lady had a "pet" coyote.  She got mad at me because I accidentally (really, really, honest to G-d!) ran over her feeding dish sitting there in the parking lot.

I was shocked, shocked, I say.  It was the only time anybody ever got mad at me. Really, really, honest to G-d!

Terry, 230RN

[grampster]

Never mind...trained up by anonrn230

[WLJ]

The proof that American human critters are stupid around wild animals is borne out by seeing how many of them vote for Democrats. :'(  

Beware of wild donkeys

[230RN]

Quote from: grampster on November 08, 2023, 01:39:33 PM

The proof that American human critters are stupid around wild animals is borne[out by seeing how many of them vote for Democrats. :'(  

Lincoln supposedly said:  "You can't fool all of the people all of the time."

You don't have to. You only have to fool 50.00001% of them.

[WLJ]

Quote from: grampster on November 08, 2023, 01:39:33 PM

Lincoln was right:  "You can't fool all of the people all of the time."

You only have to fool 50.00001% of them.

I usually word it as
You only have to fool enough of them

[MechAg94]

My end of the building seems to attract people who like to attract animals.  In the tenant flux there's almost always someone back here who feeds the critters.  In one respect it's OK because it provides the possibility of meat on the hoof if needed.  I have pics of the literally dozens of tracks in the snow under my window.  Rabbits, squirrels, and magpies are the main characters.

It's illegal to feed wild animals, with a fairly recent exception from 10-15 years ago:  Bird feeders are OK.  But one lady had a "pet" coyote.  She got mad at me because I accidentally (really, really, honest to G-d!) ran over her feeding dish sitting there in the parking lot.

I was shocked, shocked, I say.  It was the only time anybody ever got mad at me. Really, really, honest to G-d!

Terry, 230RN

At one time I had a 3rd floor apartment.  I took down my bird feeder after I witnessed a rat climb up to my balcony and right up to pig out at my bird feeder.  Usually the pigeons would just chase off all the pretty birds and kick seed all over the place, anyway. 

[K Frame]

There was someone up the street who was feeding birds and other critters along that community's shrub/tree line between the community parking lot and the public sidewalk the last couple of years.

An area where they would toss out a BUNCH of bird seed. Seren always loved walking past there because she'd go into her "let's see what I can stalk" walk. She didn't much care about the birds, but a lot of squirrels would also eat the bird seed, so that was always fun for her.

Then they started throwing out a bunch of... I guess trash food... for the critters and setting out plastic containers of water near the dumpsters. One day I walked past and there was a pile of spaghetti and sauce on the ground. WTF?

Well, the inevitable happened.

Can you guess what happened?

If you said rats, you win the prize!

A metric buttload of rats moved in and started digging warrens in the tree line. As in Ratropolis.

Then they came in a poisoned the rats, and there were dead and dying rats all over the street and sidewalk to the point where we couldn't walk on that side for awhile.

So things calmed down, Seren and I started walking on that side again, and then suddenly... food starts coming back out and the rats once again descended. 

Then I blew my knee out around this time last year and we changed our walking patterns so I have no clue what's going on up there.