Don't Feed Wildlife
There have recently been two major stories coming out of one of my favorite parks to visit, Grand Teton National Park. They both involve animals I have had the pleasure of spending time with and photographing. These stories are worrisome, troubling and infuriating. I will link both articles below.
First a story came out involving a famous professional photographer who supposedly was caught on camera by a local photographer with two other people baiting a pair of foxes to get them in close for photographs. Now I am not here to discuss this photographer and quite frankly he does not deserve to be mentioned in my article. Unfortunately, the two foxes involved over the past few years have been fed by numerous visitors and had become habituated to human food. Although they still hunt and get food on their own, this fox was ultimately euthanized from this behavior. I photographed this same fox back in October 2020 during my second visit to the area of the year. As you can see from the photos it was a gorgeous colored fox with a big bushy tail. You can see its blue ear tags in a couple of the photos.
The second article I just saw a couple days before writing this first draft. This one really gets me angry as it involves the “fab 5” from this year. Grizzly 399 is arguably the most famous bear in the world. She is 24 years old and has birthed numerous cubs over her years and this year came out of the den with an amazing four, yes four coy (cubs of the year). She was out longer than usual as she had five bears to fatten up before heading to the den to hibernate for the winter. She traveled all over the park and later in the year outside the park, which was a scary situation for them. Come to find out a local woman was feeding the bears in her back yard. This is not something that should ever happen, and this is something that will put all five of these bears at risk for the future. What if they remember getting food there and head back year after year? It puts them in jeopardy to be hit by cars or run into other troubles with the public outside the park. Moreover, what if they come to expect the food and start searching for humans to feed them. They could easily end up like the fox I mentioned above, which would be tragic.
On the opposite end of the situation, what if the bears turned on the lady and hurt or killed her? What if a neighbor came walking out and startled the bears unknowingly? There could have been numerous negative outcomes from this practice.
I get it, like everyone else, I too strive to get as close as possible to get great close-up shots or portraits of wild animals. You must do it with in the laws and rules of the parks. It takes work, planning and dedication to get those shots. All my photos are from safe distances or from inside a vehicle. I have also worked hard and have bought equipment that allows me to get in closer than the average person at the park. When I spend a week in the Tetons, I am up before sunrise and am not back until after sunset. Its long days, minimal sleep, but it is what I enjoy. It’s such a thrill to finally come across what you have been searching high and low all over the park. Travelling on sketchy back roads, sometimes sitting in a spot for hours. Point is, it’s not easy as you may imagine seeing beautiful shots from people. Most took a long time to get the shots you see on your Instagram feed for example.
I spent a week in the Tetons in June and October this year. My main goal was to photograph grizzly 399 and her four coy. I did find them on both trips, and I feel very blessed and lucky to have done so. What you may not know is on both trips I found them on the last day of each of the trips. So that means there were six long days each trip of searching with no luck. Luckily, the park is amazing and has an abundance of other amazing wildlife to observe and photograph. This is where I came across the fox in the article in October up in the Coulter Bay area of the park. It was alongside the road just minding its own business. We tracked it for about 15 minutes getting some shots and then it disappeared into the tree line.
So, if you want to enjoy the amazing photos out there then do so online or buy someone’s amazing art to put on your wall. Do not cheat! If you want photos of your own, do tons of research, learn animal behaviors, and put in all the hard work. That is the only real way to get those photos or just get lucky.
The wild is a treasure and everyone needs to treat it that way. Leave the wild…wild, never feed a wild animal as you do not know the negative impact you may be having. Grizzly bears are a threatened species, and we can only see them in a small region of the US now. They are magnificent animals that need our help to protect them, not put them in more danger.
Please do your part…
Links:
Fox article: Colter Bay fox euthanized after human food habituation - Buckrail - Jackson Hole, news
Grizzly feeding article: Homeowner feeds Teton Park grizzlies for years; feds decline charges | Environmental | jhnewsandguide.com