h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Whether the animal you come across is wild or a farm animal you should not be feeding it. It might look cute and hungry but you'll probably find it is either a pest or it is meant to be eating something that is.

Please remember that some foods that we humans love are bad for animals. Chocolate for example is a poison to many creatures.

Roz.

And to piggy-back onto this point...

Picnics in the wilderness are strongly discouraged here in the states because people have a bad habit of leaving bits of uneaten sandwiches lying about...

And a bear comes along and eats half a roast beef and turkey sandwich and then develops a taste for it. So the next poor bugger who unwraps a sandwich gets an uninvited ursine companion for lunch - which I'd imagine can be a bit unnerving!

Also, thoughtless people who picnic in the woods also have a bad habit of failing to collect all their food wrappers, soda cans, etc which puts litter in a sensitive natural area.

So as a general rule, only picnic in designated picnic areas and keep your food out of the woods!


- Jimi X

Bears developing a penchant for Coke and McDonalds is one thing, Pigs getting swine fever from a carelessly discarded ham sandwich is something else entirely ...

Take all rubbish with you, no matter whether you think it's biodegradable or not ... Orange peel takes over 2 years to biodegrade just so you know!

I don't know if this is bad, but I've often fed horses - encouraged by horse-owning relative when I was younger. There's often some juicy-looking grass just out of a poor mare's reach.

A fed bear is a dead bear.
Once a bear gets a taste for the very energy rich human food it will do everything possible to get that food even if that means prying the back off your car. Eventually things go wrong and a person is hurt because of another human's stupidity and the bear has to be killed.
So a fed bear is a dead bear.
Enough said

DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS...ESPECIALLY HORSES!!! Unless you have shown the animal's owner what you want to feed the horse and received their permission, do not EVER feed horses. Because of the way a horse's digestive system works (they cannot vomit) any variation from their normal diet is possibly fatal. Here are some reasons why:

A.) The horse could be OLD.
Being the new owner of an older horse myself, I am extremely aware of the dangers of misfeeding an older horse. As horses enter their "golden years" their teeth--which are long at birth with submerged roots--are worn down almost to nothing and eventually fall out. Since these teeth, which are the ones used for chewing, are hidden far back in the jaw, an observer can't tell whether or not a horse has lost its teeth (unless you actually stick your hand in its mouth, which I don't reccomend). If the horse has no teeth and you give him something to chew, he could choke and die.

B.) The horse could be SICK
Think for a minute: Orange juice is fine and healthy to drink--except when you have an upset stomach. Then the acid in the fruit makes your stomachache worse (or makes you upchuck, either or). Obviously you wouldn't offer a horse OJ (or at least I hope you wouldn't), but the fact is, when horses are sick, they're usually on a very strict diet. Any deviation from that diet could make the horse worse or kill him.

C.) The plant you think is safe may be POISONOUS
Plants that humans and other animals find edible can be toxic to horses. Other plants--even plants you may have seen horses eat before--are edible for a certain period in the plant's growth, or at a certain time of the year, and toxic after. The fence is there for a reason--perhaps the yummy looking grass on the other side has been sprayed with pesticide or is ripe with worms (parasites) and is unused for a reason--waiting for the parasites to die off. Maybe a sick horse had been kept in that pasture and the grass could carry infections. Remember, horses and other animals think with their stomachs, not their brains. They may not realize or understand until too late that they "shouldn't have ate that."

D.) The horse's DIGESTIVE SYSTEM may not be able to DIGEST the proffered food
Horses have very delicate digestive systems, which is why if you visit a barn or stable's feed room you will find mile upon mile of feeding instructions--for each horse. Once the food has been swallowed it is past the point of no return, since as I mentioned earlier, horses cannot barf (or burp). The food slides down the esophagus and enters the stomach. There it is partially broken down, but not all the way. It passes through 75.5 feet (metres conversion?) of small intestine to reach the cecum, which is like a second stomach with carefully balanced and adjusted bacteria levels. In the cecum it is fully digested, whereupon the waste passes through the short large intestine and ends up as an aromatic pile on the ground. Most problems occur in the passage to the cecum. Some foods, like fruit, bread, unsoaked beet pulp etc., expand in water, which is what is mostly prevalent in the horse's body. It happens in humans as well, but our adaptability and omnivorous nature nullifies the negative effects, leaving us with a bloated belly and maybe gas. (This is why sandwiches, which don't look very interesting, are so filling. As an experiment, try eating several roast beef and gravy sandwiches, then check your belly afterwards. You'll probably appear with child.) Since the food spends such a short time in the stomach though, the food expands in the small intestine, causing a blockage and a complete halt of digestion. This is called colic, and is often fatal, especially if the horse rolls on the ground, which causes the intestines (which are not stayed by anything) to loop over one another and cause a torsion of the bowel, which is fatal. Also, because the bacteria in the cecum is optimally balanced for the kind of food the horse is used to receiving, changing the amount or brand/kind or feed suddenly can send the horse's innards into an uproar--feed shifts need to be made gradually (unlike dogs & people, which are carni/omnivores, and have an adaptable rather than an efficient digestive system, which is why their sh*t smells so rotten).

F.) The horse could BITE
There are many animals (and people) with kind faces and Satanic dispositions out there. And there is rarely any warning before a horse bites--and it HURTS, let me tell you. A nasty one can even take off a finger or five.

G.) (After regular "treating" or giving of tidbits) The horse could become PUSHY
Horses are, again, unlike dogs, which is a common error that people make. Whereas dogs, if you treat them often, just appreciate it (and rarely learn to anticipate it), horses when treated often begin to expect it, and more likely than not become nippy, evil-tempered, and pushy. A horse pushing you around is dangerous, and pushy horses can transmit their pushiness to their baffled owners (or innocent bystanders, the entire human race, cows in a field, and the color yellow).

So unless you know the circumstances and have permission from the horse's (or any other animal's) owner, please don't feed. More terrible than a horse that has to go without the grass out of his reach is the horse that dies because of misinformation or well-meaning sympathy. Respect owners and their animals.

(I'm sorry if I went on a bit, it's just that I love horses and I'm really nervy and protective of them--especially mine. I keep thinking what would happen if someone fed my Viener something bad by accident and he got sick or keeled over dead. *shudder*)

~Vieneriffic

Last time I was near a barn, most sick horses were kept inside where they can be kept an eye on and their diet monitered.

Cowslip is a pretty, juicy looking yellow flower, seen all over the British Countryside. Easy to grab it in a handful of long grass, gets accidently baled up in the hay... kills more horses than you would ever believe. Don't mess with stuff you don't own or know about!! Oh yeah, was it mentioned? TAKE YOUR *#%&@£% LITTER HOME!!!

HB

Doesn't this all depend on what you are feeding the animals too ?

Generally, its best not to feed them *anything* at all. I had a friend whose horse died because someone fed it bread! Nasty, nasty, nasty.

Even if you have a nice juicy carrot, a horse (or sheep, or cow) can easily take off fingers if you're not careful (and even if you are). You may also be in danger of a swift painful kick.

It's really for your own safety as much as the animals.

An interesting bear anecdote. My friend Adam was cycle touring in the states, and one night after they'd set up their 4 man dome tent, a black bear came round the back of it. Having bounced up and down on it for a while, he walked in through the back flap. (They'd by then, and were at this point hiding behind a tree taking photo's, which I've seen.) The bear could smell their , and proceeded to unwrap and eat all the banana's and mars bars, and leave all the snickers! He then wondered off, presumably in search of more mars bars...

When they got back to the tent, they found he'd been doing all this on Adam's companion Andy's sleeping back, which was covered in bear drool.

Seriously though, having spent some time living in a town next to mountains with a population of around 50 black bears between the two ski hills, what switchx says is VERY important. It's not at all good if a bear loses it's natural wariness towards humans, and "problem" bears are indeed usually dead one's.

More info on how to behave around bears can be found at http://www.bearsmart.com/backcountryManners/

Oh, yeah. Bear bells. I'm assured this conversation took place.

Tourist : "Is it a good idea to wear a bear bell?"

Yukoner : "How do you tell Black Bear dung from Grizzly dung?"

Tourist : "Dunno. How?"

Yukoner : "Grizzly dung has little bells in it..."





Remember kids. This is just a joke. It's a good idea to let the bear know you're coming, and the bells do help a bit.

Another thing to be wary of is that the animal you are feeding might look cute but it could kill you.

In the UK we are very lucky to be Rabies free. This is not true in other parts of the world. When I lived in the US the major reason given for not feeding the animals in national parks was that they were carrying rabies. One bite could quite literally be deadly.

Even if you manage to feed them without getting bitten please think of the people that are going to visit after you. If an anmial thinks of humans as a source of food then it is more likely to not be afraid and approach them. The more ofthen it approaches them the sooner it is going to bite someone. And that someone might be a small child.

Roz.

On Bears bells.
Actually don't bother wearing them. They are just a way to part tourists from their money. Two points on them. Too many people wear their bells while they do everything in the backcountry, including cooking a beautiful meal. HHHHmmmmmmm. Ring the bell as delicious smelling scents waft pass a bear. Can we say Pavlov? It has been shown that some bears do associate the ring of a bear bell with eating. The other thing is that the bell is too often ignored by bears. The bell not being a sound that they pay attention to.
So instead of using a bear bell clap or sing when in a heavily wood area or when you can not see further down the trail. If you are really nervous travel in a TIGHT group of six. So far there has never been an attack on a group of six or larger.
If there is a bear in the area give it a lot of space, at least the length of 10 large tour buses and leave the area as soon as possible.
If you know an area has had a bear sighting in it do not go there, give the bears some space. Actually, give all wildlife a lot of space.
Switchx