Windows 7: Feeding wild animals - good, bad, indifferent?

Leave food out for foxes in your garden, says ‘irresponsible’ RSPCA - Telegraph

You might have seen reports of this incident in the UK when a baby was attacked by one of our urban foxes. I don't particularly have a view on feeding foxes other than perhaps that leaving food on the ground probably tends to encourage rats into the area so mostly I think it is a bad idea, apart from encouraging the foxes to multiply. I have nothing against foxes as animals and don't see them as vermin or pests.

What do others think about possibly feeding the wildlife in their countries? I am sure we have it rather tame here in the UK with few animals seen as threats to us so things will be very different.

Here is the U.S., it's illegal to feed wildlife in many locations because animals can become dependent on the food source and/or lose their fear of humans and become a nuisance or downright dangerous.

Dont have that many wild animals here in Ireland apart from vermin only thing i feed is birds .

Not even in the pubs?

We try to be strict about not leaving food scraps outside to avoid mice and other rodents - over here even a short lived rodent population = snakes, and unfortunately they tend to be venomous.

Yeah we have our share of them i used to be one also in my younger days

I don't feed wild animals I feed on them when I can.
This is a option after the tasty meal.
http://www.windyridgetrapper.com/ind...grading-grades

one evening ,the night before refuse collection i had a sack outside in the back yard,
when i went out for a cigarette i could here it rustling there was something moving inside it,
so being brave i got a long stick and proceeded to poke and whack the sack for a while 'til it stopped moving.
i left it as i didnt want to see what was in it.
a while later i go out for another cigarette only to see a hedgehog trying to get up the short steps from the bin area.
it seemed ok so i put a bucket over it tipped it up with the hedgehog inside and carried it down the country lane adjacent to our house.
set it free and apologised to mr hedgehog only to find him trying it again the following night.
the bin sacks no longer go out until the pick up day now.
and mr hedgehog hasnt been back.

Can't realy blame a wild critter for responding to a buffet left out no matter if it was intentional or garbage.
I see people feeding seagulls & pigions in parking lots alot, end result is swarms of welfare birds and germ ridden crap everywhere.
On lots of private property people use automated feeders attached to grain drums for wild life. In warmer climates this tends to attract wild boar, not the intended animal. And then you have a concentrated area of germ ridden feces where other animals feed and tend to spread cwd and other disorders. In colder climates where wildlife digestive tracts slow down by natures design & tend to adjust for available food sources, you have people feeding wildlife with grains and greens such as hay (stem) where something such as a horse or cow would do ok with but actualy cause digestive problems and more harm then good to other critters such as deer.

And one point of view ....

Simon Jenkins: Let