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People should NOT be feeding birds anyway.
Seriously?
Without reading article did it say what county this was in.
so yeah, I am also guilty of wild animal welfare myself.
Birds are pollinators and an important part of the food chain. If you are one of those folks who say “Oh, I never eat anything but meat and potatoes anyway!” stop and think for a moment what you’re going to feed all those cattle with and what food producers will be able to rely on if the birds and insects - esp bees - go away.
It’s generally all right to feed birds, if you want to do it - but like it says in the article, if there’s any sign a bear has been around, take the feeders down. Otherwise feeding wild birds keeps us in tomatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, and so on. (And flowers! Who doesn’t like flowers?)
That poor bear will end up having to pay the price if it gets too used to bird feeders, however; those folks should take the feeders down so the bear will go away. There was a recent story I read about a lady seeing a bear in the bird feeder in her yard - she went to the outside door and yelled at it - the bear was feeling territorial and attacked - it broke the sliding door and entered the house and attacked the lady - the lady and her husband finally fought the bear off.
Raccoons also hang around bird feeders and they aren’t so adorable, either. (And your local ecosystem can probably do without so many raccoons.)
I like to feed birds but I don’t use a feeder except for hummingbird feeders. Since I am home all the time, I just put small amounts of food out in one place or another, never in just one place all the time. There have been signs of a bear hanging around - but there is always something around whether one puts out food or not. I’m pretty sure he moved on. Lately there has been a large bird like a hawk or eagle hanging around making lots of noise - I never saw him but only his shadow.
But, yeah: Feed the birds even if all you want on your plate is meat and potatoes! Their habitats are being destroyed and poisoned. They can use the help and you’re doing a good deed.
How do we know that’s a real bear and not a guy in a bear suit?