Don't Feed Wild Birds: Understanding The Dangers
Most of the responsible parks show a warning sign telling visitors "Don't feed wild birds". While the advice is pretty much common sense for us, not too many people are well-informed about the reasons behind it.
As a result, some people devoted to certain religions like to disregard the advice and feed wild birds.
In this article, we will explain 4 reasons behind the "Don't feed wild birds" warning, educate you on why feeding wild birds can be harmful, and why this should be prevented no matter what worldview people have.
This is Antlerium PotatoNews, a series focusing on the daily lives of ordinary people, including life tips. Today we explore the importance of "Don't feed wild birds", and see how dangerous feeding birds can be.
Where do we know the concept of "Don't feed wild birds"?
For most people, "Don't feed wild birds" is just a concept. They know they must not feed birds, but don't know what is wrong feeding them. For us to understand not to do something, we must understand what will happen after we do that.
Usually, we learn not to feed wild birds by seeing a simply designed icon drawing a cross on someone handing seeds to a bird, with a short instructional sentence, something like "Don't feed birds". That's all.
These signs can appear in a park, on a beach, or on the streets. The more urban your place is, the more occasions you are told not to feed wild birds.
But even if you are exposed to the instruction, without knowing why the instruction must exist, you may think this is not a golden rule and disobey it.
Ask yourself, have you been told the effects of feeding wild birds? Have you been told the danger of messing with birds?
And this is the reason this article exists. We must know what feeding wild birds can cause, so we can understand the importance of staying away from birds and not feeding them.
What happens if you do feed wild birds
More birds, more pollution
Once you feed birds in a certain area, they will crowd into that area, thinking that staying there will have an infinite food supply. They leave a lot of faeces in the area, giving people a hard time to clean up. We have the responsibility to keep the street clean, keep the park clean, keep the beach clean, and we should not let wild birds bring pollution.
Encourage avian disease transmission
Birds will stay in the area where people will feed them. This become a breeding ground for various diseases that can spread rapidly among bird populations. Diseases like avian pox, salmonellosis, and conjunctivitis can have devastating effects on bird populations. Diseases like avian flu can even infect humans, affecting public health.
Disruption of natural behaviour
If humans bring food directly to birds, instead of letting birds find their natural food, these birds will rely on humans for their survival instead of their own, they may even forget things they should eat and chase for bread. When birds become accustomed to human proximity, their ability to survive in the wild will deteriorate.
Nutritional imbalance
Feeding wild birds with human food can lead to nutritional imbalances. The food you eat is not the food birds naturally eat, it is improper to feed things like pieces of bread to wild birds. It is harmful to the birds' digestive systems. Maybe they'll be fed too much and become overweight.
That's why "Don't feed wild birds" exist
We must not ignore the "Don't feed wild birds" warning. Feeding wild birds can pollute our environment, encourage disease transmission, disrupt birds' natural behaviours and cause malnutrition in birds.
If you know someone who likes to feed wild birds, you must tell them to stop. Not destroying the way of life of wild animals is the most loving act. Feeding wild birds only harms people and the birds, and is against the public interest.
A lot of places have laws restricting people from feeding wild birds. In Hong Kong, feeding wild birds has a fine of HKD$1500. In Singapore, feeding wild birds has a fine of up to S$5000.
This is the reason behind not to feed wild birds. To learn more about life tips or other topics related to our ordinary life, make sure to follow PotatoNews. We will also post some cliffsnotes on our socials, make sure to follow them.
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