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Wildlife Services experts are often asked to assist with wildlife damage problems related to animals that have been accidentally or intentionally fed by people. Feeding wildlife can lead to a number of serious problems:
Ross SR, Gillespie KL. Influences on visitor behavior at a modern immersive zoo exhibit. Zoo Biology: Published in affiliation with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. 2009 Sep;28(5):462–72 The degree to which a sign engages the audience can also be affected by its perceived relevance. Previous research outlines the importance of framing the message personally toward the current reader to maximise its relevance [ 14]. Simply using personal pronouns can also make a message more direct and increase its significance to the audience [ 6]. Attitudes and behaviours are most likely to change if readers are illustrated as the audience who will be personally affected by their actions [ 15].
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Petty RE, Cacioppo JT. The effects of involvement on responses to argument quantity and quality: Central and peripheral routes to persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984 Jan;46(1):69. Dwyer, June (2013). "Do Not Feed the Animals: Do Not Touch: Desire for Wild Animal Companionship in the Twenty-first Century". Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 19 (4): 623–644. doi: 10.1093/isle/iss118. Tappin BM, Capraro V (2018) Doing good vs. avoiding bad in prosocial choice: A refined test and extension of the morality preference hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 79, 64–70. Funding: Flamingo Land provided support in the form of salaries for author A. R. Marshall, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section. No other funding was received for the project. Nettle D, Nott K, Bateson M. ‘Cycle thieves, we are watching you’: Impact of a simple signage intervention against bicycle theft. PloS One. 2012 Dec 12;7(12):e51738. pmid:23251615
Alex Cukan (August 31, 2002). " 'Do not feed wild animals' ". UPI Science News. Archived from the original on 2014-05-20 . Retrieved 2013-06-29. Our field has a footpath running through it which is fenced off from the horses. However, we have noticed since the horses moved to the field that runs next to the path they have got very nippy and one has started to get very bad mannered when it comes to respecting your space. We have also found bits of bread etc on the ground, both on the footpath and off it - next to the horses field fencelines. I have also been told from a reliable source that children have been seen feeding the horses and heard commenting when the horses are in their stables that they aren't in the field so can't be fed today. In the US, early 20th century park management actually encouraged animal feeding. For example, "the feeding of squirrels had been seen as a way to civilize the parks and rechannel the energies of young boys from aggression and vandalism toward compassion and charity." [19] Park rangers once fed bears in front of crowds of tourists. [20] However, with a greater awareness of ecological and other issues, such pro-feeding policies are now viewed as detrimental, [1] [19] [20] [21] and US national parks now actively discourage animal feeding. [22] Francey D, Bergmüller R. Images of eyes enhance investments in a real-life public good. PLoS One. 2012 May 18;7(5):e37397. pmid:22624026 The application of ‘watching’ eyes to messages has been shown to increase prosocial behaviours and adherence to messages prohibiting negative behaviours in a variety of contexts by provoking reputational concerns (e.g. [ 19, 20]). For instance, signs with eyes displaced over 60% of bike theft on a university campus from experimental locations to control locations nearby [ 21]. Another line of research into prosocial behaviour found prosociality in an anonymous, one-shot game to be driven by a preference to do the right thing morally and that this preference to ‘do good’ was as strong as the preference to avoid doing wrong [ 22, 23].
Results
The implications of the current study are important for both visitors and meerkats as feeding and trying to touch poses health risks to both the meerkats and visitors [ 3, 5]. Our results suggest “do not feed” signs are effective at reducing feeding but attempts to touch the meerkats were increased due to displacement activity. Although only very small proportions of visitors fed or tried to touch the meerkats, the high visitor numbers experienced by Flamingo Land [ 27] means that seemingly small reductions in the proportion of visitors could represent a high number of visitors whose behaviour would be changed. Based on the mean number of people visiting the enclosure each day during our study, the implementation of “do not feed” signs could prevent over 5 instances of feeding each day. Nigel Rothfels, Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo, JHU Press, 2008, ISBN 0801898099, p. 35. Animals fed along roads tend to stay near roads, increasing the chance of vehicle-animal accidents. Bitgood S, Carnes J, Nabors A, Patterson D. Controlling public feeding of zoo animals. Visitor Behavior. 1988;2(4):6. Gales, Nicholas; Hindell, Mark; Kirkwood, Roger (2003). Marine Mammals: Fisheries, Tourism and Management Issues. CSIRO. p.306. ISBN 0643099263. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05 . Retrieved 2016-09-22.
Meyerowitz BE, Chaiken S. The effect of message framing on breast self-examination attitudes, intentions, and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1987 Mar;52(3):500. pmid:3572721 Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S.(2015). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48 Get hold of local responsible people who may walk through & ask them to keep eyes open to protect your horses? Worth a try as when you explain to most dog people or walkers, they do understand about not feeding other animals/children sweets etc, so push the point if you can. Ernest-Jones M, Nettle D, Bateson M. Effects of eye images on everyday cooperative behavior: a field experiment. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2011 May 1;32(3):172–8.
Abstract
Birds gathering near or on airports can become victims of bird-aircraft collisions, potentially causing flight delays, damage to aircraft, and loss of human life. Houts PS, Doak CC, Doak LG, Loscalzo MJ. The role of pictures in improving health communication: A review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence. Patient Education and Counseling. 2006 May 1;61(2):173–90. pmid:16122896
In national parks and state parks, feeding animals can result in malnourishment due to inappropriate diet and in disruption of natural hunting or food-gathering behavior. It can also be dangerous to the people doing the feeding. [18] National Marine Fisheries Service. "Protect Dolphins Campaign". Archived from the original on 2013-02-25 . Retrieved 2013-07-19. In Canadian national parks, it is illegal to disturb or feed wildlife, [23] and Parks Canada advises visitors not to leave out "food attractants" such as dirty dishes. [24] Ironically, the "it is unlawful to feed animals" signs may themselves become food attractants for porcupines. [25] Road salt and roadkill may also act as food attractants, and removing roadkill is considered good park management. [26] Marine parks [ edit ] Cialdini RB, Demaine LJ, Sagarin BJ, Barrett DW, Rhoads K, Winter PL. Managing social norms for persuasive impact. Social Influence. 2006 Mar 1;1(1):3–15. a b Benson, Etienne (December 2013). "The Urbanization of the Eastern Gray Squirrel in the United States". Journal of American History. 100 (3): 691–710. doi: 10.1093/jahist/jat353.Obviously, short of sitting up the yard 24/7 and catching people in the act I can't stop people feeding them. The horses will move grazing at some point but given that we've found evidence suggesting people have left the footpath to feed the horses when they are in a further field, I doubt moving the horses will eliminate the problem. The footpath (and fields) are all fenced with electric fencing which I can say from personal experience gives a hell of a belt(!) and there are signs warning of this along the length of the footpath but this nolonger seems to be a threat to walkers/feeders...
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