Wildlife in Plano Parks
If you care about wild animals, please don't feed them!

             

Seven Good Reasons Why You Shouldn't Feed Wildlife
1.) Providing an artificial food source causes adults to produce large families which the natural food supply can’t support. Overpopulation can lead to starvation and epidemics of disease, some of which are dangerous to humans.
2.) Animals have specialized diets and can die from the wrong foods. If a baby animal receives the wrong diet, even for a day or two, it can permanently damage developing bone and muscle. The wrong food can cause disease, mouth injuries, throat obstructions and death.
3.) Feeding causes wild animals to lose their natural fear of humans. Tamed wild animals can become an easy target, or the bold advances of a tamed wild animal can be misinterpreted as an “attack.”
4.) Feeding changes behavior, often with catastrophic results. Feeding can cause death by preventing a species from migrating. It can also cause harmful interaction between species that usually don’t compete for food.
5.) You risk injury when you do not keep a respectful distance from wild animals. Wildlife can misinterpret your actions. They may not know where the food stops and your fingers begin. Once again, animals lose when people complain of being bitten or “attacked.”
6.) Feeding animals can cause over-population and erosion.  Species that burrow into the creek banks weaken the banks and make them susceptible to erosion and habitat loss.
7.) Providing food in residential areas (with the exception of birdseed feeders) often leads to property damage and unwelcome “houseguests". Sometimes people feed wildlife inadvertently when they leave pet food dishes outside or do not secure garbage.

Click here for a link to the Urban Wildlife section of the City of Plano's Animal Services Department which provides you with more detailed information about dealing with urban wildlife. 




Please Don't Feed the Ducks
Feeding ducks is tempting. It has been a pastime for generations, but the more we learn about wild waterfowl, the more we realize how detrimental feeding them is. Feeding bread to ducks is the equivalent of feeding your child nothing but candy. Ducks like bread, and will clamor for it much like a child will ask for candy. But bread has no nutritional value for waterfowl, it fills their stomachs up so that they do not eat the foods they need in order to remain healthy. Birds without proper nutrition can quickly succumb to disease and death. Nutrition is not the only reason we shouldn't feed wild ducks and geese. Feeding wildlife causes many problems, for the ducks and for the environment as well. Here are just a few of them:

Overcrowding
Where birds are fed, more birds will come, usually leading to a crowded situation. More birds mean more droppings. Excess feces cause water pollution, create an unsanitary environment for human recreation, and lead to the spread of disease in the bird population.
Disease
Many avian diseases have been attributed to duck feeding. There are documented cases of waterfowl dying from enteritis, aspergillosis, and avian botulism, all due to excess food left floating in the water. These diseases spread quickly throughout populations due to the overcrowded situations that feeding waterfowl causes.
Aggression
Ducks and geese, although acclimated to humans, are still wild animals and thus unpredictable. Many ducks and geese that get used to humans will become aggressive towards humans and towards each other.
Most people feed ducks with the best of intentions, not realizing the negative impact of their actions. Now that you know, you can help by not feeding the ducks and by educating other duck lovers.