Video Shows a Woman Hand-Feeding a Bear a Chocolate Chip Cookie
Based on what I've just watched, I believe this might be the worst year ever of people behaving badly with wildlife. A video has gone viral showing a woman hand-feeding a bear a chocolate chip cookie and I'm beside myself.
There is no planet where this is OK.
Here's what the lady had to say for herself:
I am only able to hand feed the bears when I have had them for a couple of years. They learn and know who they can be comfortable with and who are strangers or aggressive or hunters.
No. Just no. There are a million reasons why this is awful, but I'll defer to the National Park Service to give just one of why you NEVER feed bears or any other wild animals:
It changes behavior by causing wild animals to lose their instinctive fear of humans. This lack of fear causes panhandler or "nuisance" animals to be more unpredictable and dangerous when they encounter humans.
Just last year, a black bear had to be put down after it became comfortable with humans who fed it AND took selfies as reported by CNN.
I'm actually getting tired of sharing incidents like this. I do it in the hope that people will learn and it will indirectly save them and the animals. It's days like this that I'm beginning to wonder if they will ever really change their ways.