Volume 5, Number 7 The Insider February 2006 WHY A WILDLIFE FEEDING ORDINANCE MAKES SENSE People who decide to live in areas like Cambria often come from urbanized areas. It is reasonable to think that many of us share similar reasons why we end up living in Cambria – some of the reasons are because of the beauty of the forest and agriculture open spaces, the coastline, the land and ocean based wildlife, the fact that Cambria is not congested with traffic and people, and that we do not have all the issues that cities seem to have these days. Recently there have been many articles and educational discussions concerning mountain lions, coyotes, deer, rac- coons and other wildlife that share the same space. Through the media many people have expressed views on what should be done or not done. Whether you agree or disagree with the various opin- ions there seems to be a common thread that links these concerns and that is we have an abundant number of critters that live in the same environment that we make our homes. How to lessen the conflict between wildlife and humans seems to be at the root of the problem given that humans will continue to encroach into space here- tofore used by wildlife. As an organiza- tion whose mission is to protect and enhance the areas eco- logical systems through education, management, and advo- cacy we think that there are common sense solutions to wild- life and human conflict . One of these solutions is a “feedi ng ordinance”. Many cities and jurisdictions have written and implemented wildlife feeding ordinances into their general plan s and, as we understand them, these laws have been measurably success- ful in lessening conflict with wildl ife and lessening other wild- life issues. Here are some reasons why feeding wildlife is not in your best interest and certainly not in the animals’ best interest: An ordinance that prohibits feed- ing animals would certainly decrease the number of deer in Cambria and result in fewer predators whose main diet are deer. Fewer animal deaths from automobiles may be another benefit from an ordina nce. The or- dinance need not be punitive to start but habitual offenders could be cited and fined after warnings. Keeping a balance of wildlife with the natural food supply is a key principl e when sharing space with other critters. Supple- mental feeding of deer, raccoon and other wildlife may provide entertainment for you but the reality is when numerous people behave similar wildlife becomes trained not to fend for them- selves and become attractants and easy prey for predators like mountain lions and coyotes. The Animal Protection Institute, with support from Greenspace-the Cambria Land Trust, is helping to bring aware- ness about this issue to San Luis Obispo County and to educate local legislators about why a wildlife feeding ordinance would help curb wildlife conflicts. For more information about how you can help with this effort, contact Camilla Fox, D irector of Wild- life Programs with the Animal Protection Institute at 916-447- 3085, ext. 215 or via email at [email protected] . For more information about how to coexist with wil dlife, visit the Animal Protection Institute’s website at www.coexistingwithwildlife.org - Nature provide s a natural food source to keep populations of animals balanced while random supplemental feeding by humans can cause populations to increase thereby creating habituated artificial stocks of animals. - Wild animals ha ve speciali zed diets and providi ng pro- cessed human food can create an animal to become habituated to human feeding that may escalate conflicts between animals and humans. - Feeding causes wildlife to lose the ir nat ural f ear of humans. - We risk injury or disease when wild animals are invited into close proximity to people. - Providing food i n resi dential areas can lea d to property damage and unwelcome wild “houseguests.” - Feeding may cause injuries and harmful interactions between wildlife species. - Feeding prey species (e.g., deer) can attract predators like mountain lions and coyotes into our residential areas. - Feeding can result in crowd- ing and easy transmissi on of diseases between animals and thus more frequent disease outbreaks. Photograph by Camilla Fox