5 Reasons to Avoid Feeding Wild Animals

It’s natural to want to feed the wildlife around you—and you may think it’s a great way of connecting with nature in your own backyard. Unfortunately, doing so has negative effects for both humans and animals.

Lincoln Park Zoo is home to the Urban Wildlife Institute, which studies animals that live in cities to discover ways we can coexist alongside one another. Based on their research, UWI scientists don’t recommend putting food out for animals, either intentionally or inadvertently. Here are five reasons why.

1. The food people give wildlife isn’t good for them.

Feeding the animals, an activity called provisioning, often involves people giving wildlife food that isn’t as nutritious as they would find on their own. Animals have adapted to the food they can seek out in the areas where they live, yet people tend to give them food like bread or chips. But human food is frequently high in calories or sugar and low in vitamins and minerals.

Even food you think is safe and healthy, like small amounts of raw and unsalted nuts or corn or sunflower seeds for squirrels, don’t provide the nutrition that animals need. Peanuts not stored properly may even include a mold that produces a toxic carcinogen.

Wildlife may experience malnutrition as a result. Squirrels, for example, can get metabolic bone disease (osteoporosis) if their nutritional profile is off. Ducks and other aquatic birds may get a condition called “angel wing” from dietary imbalances, including too many carbs (like bread) and too much protein, during their rapid growth phase. This deformity causes the last joint in the wing to twist outward, so feathers point the wrong way. Birds with angel wing can’t fly, so they can’t escape danger or migrate.

2. When animals are fed, they gather in small areas, which can spread illnesses and disease and make them more vulnerable to predators.

When animals gather in one spot repeatedly to take advantage of easy sources of food, they spread diseases around more easily through increased contact. Being in a small area isn’t necessarily a natural behavior for certain animals, such as deer, and can lead to reductions in populations already threatened by urban dangers such as loss of habitat, pollution, invasive species, predation, and contact with humans.

Plus, feeders can be a source of contamination through bacteria, mold, and viruses. They may hold dangerous chemicals such as the red dye used to attract hummingbirds. Provisioning animals also encourages them to visit backyards and other spaces that are treated with herbicides and other substances that can harm wildlife.

3. Feeding animals puts humans in danger by leading to human-wildlife conflict.

Feeding wild animals changes their behavior in unnatural ways. For example, bears may become more aggressive and bolder around people, leading to an increased incidence of attacks. Injuries to people are more likely. Road collisions, disease transfer, property damage, and human resentment of local wildlife may all go up when animals become more used to human contact. And when an animal is proven to be dangerous to people, the animal often loses out.

This is true even though it’s not the animal’s fault. In one incident from October 2024, a 74-year-old man was attacked by a female bear and her three cubs in his Lake City, Colorado home. The human suffered significant injuries, while all four bears were euthanized per state law. Colorado Parks and Wildlife believes that the bears had been food-conditioned, and had come to associate humans and their living spaces with food.

4. Feeding wildlife puts animals in danger; they may become dependent, and changes to their natural activity patterns may influence how they adapt to urban environments.

Animals that have become habituated to humans may become a danger to humans, but they also put themselves in danger unwittingly. As they begin to depend on humans for food, they may also lose acquired knowledge and skills about strategies they can use to successfully forage or hunt in their own environments—like where they can find abundant food that fits their nutritional needs. Thus, when their easy human-provided food source is taken away, they may become stressed or ill.

Over time, feeding wildlife may lead to long-term health effects and dietary and behavioral changes that could affect local populations and alter the course of their evolution, such as a reduction in home range sizes and an alteration in natural activity patterns. Some recent studies indicate that, as bold individuals may get benefits from interacting with humans, certain species are selecting for risk-taking behaviors. This may artificially reduce the types of personalities that can be successful in the wild.

5. There are better ways for you to make a difference for wildlife.

Although some studies do show that specific kinds of animals may benefit from provisioning under certain circumstances, such as mass bird migration times and harsh weather events, general feeding of wild animals is not currently recommended by zoo scientists. Instead, one of the most important actions you can take on a daily basis is to Observe, Don’t Disturb. You can help keep animals like squirrels, ducks, deer, raccoons, pigeons, and others safe by watching them without feeding or touching them.

Try attracting animals with native plants and structures that provide homes for them. Reduce unnatural behaviors by making sure your garbage containers are secured against four-legged visitors. And if you do use a bird feeder, make sure it’s designed to feed native birds. Clean it regularly and check to ensure food doesn’t pile up on the ground beneath the feeder. Click here to find more data-backed ideas for living wildlife friendly.