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Beware of wildlife feeding By SHANNON TOMPKINS Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Dec. 19, 2003, 11:16PM "Wildlife" is a compound word. "Wild" is the relevant part. A lot of people ignore that, to the detriment of the animals and themselves. Deer and alligators, javelinas and raccoons, possums and pigeons are not domestic pets, even if they have become habituated to humans. ' Truth is, a wild critter habituated to humans or human handouts is trouble waiting to happen. My father, who knew better, proved this point with the squirrels that lived in the oaks along the creek behind his home in East Texas. Dad would sit on his back porch shelling pecans. He pitched a few cracked pecans off the porch for the squirrels. The rodents quickly became enamored of the handouts. In a week or so, he had a squirrel that would come up on the porch, crawl up his leg and take a cracked pecan out of his hand. This was neat. Most humans enjoy watching wildlife, and having a wild critter so close is a thrill. But there is a down side for both humans and the wild animals. That squirrel was relentless in his demands for pecans. And when Dad would not give it one, the darned thing would bite him! The squirrel did this several times. Dad never did say what finally solved the problem, but I do remembering it was about this time that he mentioned enjoying a particularly fine pot of squirrel and dumplings. It could have been worse. He could have been feeding deer in his back yard, or the gators in the creek. "I'm firmly convinced a deer habituated to humans is the most dangerous animal out there," said Bryan Richards, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. An adult buck deer whose natural fear of humans has been corrupted is a spooky creature. One minute, it's eating potato chips out of a kid's hand, the next moment, it sees a human as a threat or competition and ends up stomping and goring and otherwise thrashing someone. It happens regularly in suburban areas where residents constantly feed deer and the animals gather in unnatural numbers, savaging landscaping, causing serious vehicle accidents and generally generating ugly vibes. As part of his job, Richards deals with communities trying to address problems of too many deer in an urban or, more typically, suburban setting. Areas such as Lakeway near Austin and Holiday Park near San Antonio have far too many deer in their protected environs, and residents who feed the animals only add to the problems, he said. Feeding deer artificially concentrates wildlife, which can lead to increased vulnerability to disease because of the overcrowded situation. The feeding can artificially inflate the population of wildlife, leading to destruction of natural forage and, again, increasing the chances for epizootic disease outbreaks. Then there are the human issues. While one resident might enjoy a herd of deer or a pile of pigeons in his yard, his neighbors might not like the deer eating their expensive shrubs and gardens to nubs or the pigeons leaving deposits on cars and houses and driveways. 6