Don’t Feed The Animals
I took my kids to a zoo this past Sunday. I knew ahead of time that the ‘Don’t Feed The Animals’ mantra used in much of the western world held no weight here and I didn’t plan to be judgmental. I actually made a point of buying some apples to feed the deer, goats and pigs.
Everyone else fed everything else bread. The most surprising bread eaters were the flamingos. The most obese bread eater was the raccoon. The best one word description for the raccoon would be stationary. It might be a very conceited anthropomorphism to call the raccoon pragmatic, but I could imagine him reasoning that if kids stick bread sticks through the corner of his cage… there was no reason to go anywhere else.
Bread is not an ideal dietary supplement for most animals. Feeding ducks in the park is a common activity in countries where “Don’t Feed The Animals” is a real rule in zoos. Some sources say that feeding wild ducks bread basically kills them.
Osaka, Japan has some shockingly obese monkeys.
As with human obesity, education (of humans) can go a long way towards minimizing these kinds of overeating. As with human obesity, habit and culture will often stand in the way of progress.
