[Animals] Why it's not a good idea to feed urban wildlife

[FNX Magokiler]

If you've spent any time browsing TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook, you've probably seen viral videos of people feeding wild raccoons in the United States from marshmallows and hot dogs to cupcakes and homemade lasagna.

But while these masked mammals look fluffy and adorable, experts warn that these videos lead down a dark path.

"It's great that people want to interact with raccoons," says Jeannine Fleegle, a biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission; "I understand perfectly. But there are problems."

For starters, feeding wild animals can quickly lead to habituation, which is what the scientific community calls when an animal becomes too close to people. And while those who feed the animals may interpret their docile behavior as affection, it could quickly turn into violence.

"You may be okay with that raccoon, but your neighbor may not be, and raccoons don't know the difference. They associate people with food, and that's bad," Fleegle says. "They can become aggressive, especially with a small person or a child. They can become aggressive with pets."

And that's just scratching the surface of why Fleegle says feeding wild raccoons is "one of the 10 worst ideas you can have."

A history of bites, illnesses and euthanasia

 

With a powerful bite and sharp teeth, a raccoon bite on your finger or hand is more than enough to cause you harm (it's no coincidence that several videos of raccoon bites have also gone viral).

In fact, between 2001 and 2004, raccoon bites sent more than 1,300 Americans to the emergency room, according to one study.

But the biggest concern, by far, regarding any wild mammal bite, is the pathogens that could be transferred in the process.

"Raccoons have a lot of diseases that we can get, just like our pets," says Fleegle. "The main one, of course, is rabies. Rabies is deadly... but there's also parvovirus. There's distemper. There's roundworm. Leptospirosis. I could go on and on."

People and their pets are not the only ones in danger. When humans feed wild animals, they encourage them to congregate in greater numbers than they would in the wild. And this makes it more likely that animals will spread infectious diseases to each other.

"Aggression and competition between animals is another problem," says Fleegle after watching a selection of raccoon videos on TikTok.

"Fights can lead to injuries. These situations are stressful for animals, whether we think about it or not. And stress suppresses the immune system, opening the door to diseases that otherwise would not have been a problem."

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.es/animales/2023/12/peligros-darle-comer-fauna-urbana-salvaje-mapache