Many people say it’s bad to interfere with nature whether helping animals in distress or feeding them because they will end up depending on humans. If we share the space and humans will be around animals, why is it seen as bad? Over time would it be possible to more than coexist with animals?
In: Biology
Former zookeeper here.
We don’t really want animals thinking of humans as a source of food. Even raccoons can be a nuisance if they try to get into your trash cans, etc. If you feed them, they’ll expect other humans to also. If they don’t get fed, they may get bitey about it. This gets even worse the larger the animal get – bears, for instance. It can be pretty dangerous for humans. These animals may also carry disease, which is another reason you don’t want to encourage them to get right up next to humans.
It can be dangerous for animals too. Bears that go intruding into human spaces generally get shot so someone doesn’t get mauled to death. If raccoons are hanging out in a suburb doing a little trash can dining, they’re at greater risk of getting hit by cars, getting shot as pests, eating something out of the trash that’s toxic, etc.
Also, there is no real benefit to getting wild animals used to humans. Why would anyone want raccoons, possums, etc. to be fine with walking up to humans. Who gains something from this? It’s a risk without a reward.
As to whether it would be possible to “more than coexist” with animals – I honestly don’t know what that even means. Like, are you hoping that you can ride a bear to work and a friendly gorilla will help you carry the groceries in? We can domesticate animals through generations of breeding (animals you see on a farm) and we can tame animals and get them to do things (animals you see in a circus), but that’s about it. People still get seriously injured or killed by both categories of animals. despite being in a mostly-controlled environment.
These animals are wild and we, as humans, need to respect that. It’s not on us to care for them, they don’t want to be our friends, and they certainly are not pets. The best things we can do is ensure their habitat is protected from people and pollution, and give them the space to live their animal lives doing animal things.
Nature can be pretty brutal and it doesn’t work like Disney movies. I understand how people see wild animals and think they’re cute and want to “help” them like they would a pet. But, you’ve got to understand, they are not your pets. They’re wild, and it’s up to us to respect and protect that.
I’m not trying to be rude, but I do think this is a bubble worth bursting.
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