(no subject)

[urbpan]

I've written the very beginning pages and the last page of the next Urban Nature Walk zine. Now I just have to work on the middle. Here's a look at the ending:




You aren't supposed to feed wild animals, and you really shouldn't hand-feed them. Feeding animals causes them to lose their wariness of humans, which is an important survival attribute for urban animals. Food that we provide for animals is almost always bad for them-surely white bread bagels are not good for a gull's digestive system.

But people who call themselves animal lovers willingly commit this small sin of corrupting a wild creature's habits and diet. Why is it such a strong impulse?

In John McLoughlin's "The Animals Among Us," he supposes that people feed urban birds "for the solace of...feeling the whir of their wings...sensing the freedom of flight above the stinking cities that lean close around them. " Perhaps, but there's something else there. People hand-feed squirrels, who are flightless, with much the same enthusiasm as they feed birds. Unwise people have hand-fed foxes, moose, and even alligators. What I think people are reaching for, when they hold out a peanut or pizza crust, is the connection with nature that--as a species--we have lost our immediate touch with. When an animal comes so close that you can see yourself reflected in its eyes, in some very small way you are connecting with wildness itself.

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

That's delightful honey.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

I like it a lot!

[lostnorange.livejournal.com]

:(

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

why does it make you frown?

[lostnorange.livejournal.com]

Just makes me sad.

But people who call themselves animal lovers willingly commit this small sin of corrupting a wild creature's habits and diet.


What I think people are reaching for, when they hold out a peanut or pizza crust, is the connection with nature that--as a species--we have lost our immediate touch with.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

people need to hear this regularly. we live on the edge of a forested area, and people are constantly trying to feed cat food to the racoons and peanuts to the squirrels. one of them asked me last week what opossums like to eat, so she could get some at the store. i said that's nice, but you don't need to- they've been getting it for themselves for quite some time now.
you actually can get a ticket here, for feeding the geese.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's pretty damn unneccesary to deliberately feed raccoons and opossums. I would have a hard time answering with anything but "cats, mostly, why?" (not strictly true, but it's funny)

The marvelous (to me) thing about opossums is how much their range has spread in response to the appearance of urbanization on this continent.

You can tell the squirrel-feeders that peanuts have been found to cause nutritional deficiencies and disease in squirrels, if you like.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

i posted the list of feeding 'no-nos' on the mail box clusters in the neighborhood. hopefully the animal-feeders will read them. i also put the name of the store that sells wild bird supplies (bird houses, bat houses, appropriate bird foods). clearly people want to connect with nature, since this neighborhood wraps around a chunk of it, it seems like a good idea to show them how they might do it a little better.
opossum are a huge population up here. i'm looking forward to (hopefully) watching the coyote thrive, too.

[wakarusa.livejournal.com]

by george i think you've got it.

and to some extent - some of these creatures are no longer "wild" in the sense that their worlds, their universes, are separate from our own. it's a disconcerting thing to think of yourself and your bagel as part of that urban ecosystem niche that the birds are exploiting - even if, as you point out, the refined white flour in that bagel isn;t going to do them (or you) much good.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

On the contrary, I find it amazingly comforting to think of myself (and my bagel) as part of an ecosystem that birds are exploiting! (but this may not be how other animal-feeders feel...)

[http://users.livejournal.com/pseudonym_/]

hi. i'm sure this is totaly random.

for lent, i've chosen to give up meat (something i've always wanted to do) for 40 days, and while I was searching for vegetarian meal ideas, my friend asked me what vegetarians eat for dinner. so i went to google, and typed in "what to vegetarians eat for thanksgiving?" and the first link was to your livejournal post.

so hi.
and thanks for the information on salad. :D

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Hi!

Good luck with Lent. For more ideas on what to eat, try vegetarians. Don't forget about pasta--it's perfectly vegetarian until you put meat on it. Like most vegetarians, I didn't used to be one. 40 days seems like a snap to me now, but it took 3 tries for it (my vegetarianism) to take. Going on 15 years now.

I forget what information I gave on salad, but, you're welcome.

[ms-cantrell.livejournal.com]

being vegetarian is good. it's cheaper, healthier, and when i started, i dropped to clothing sizes in about two months. as with urbpan, i've been a vegetarian more than 15 years now, and it keeps getting easier and tastier. a great book for starter vegetarians is "student's vegetarian cookbook."
good luck to you!

Ooooh! Cookbooks!

[(Anonymous)]

"Garden of Vegan" and "How it All Vegan" are the best vegetarian cookbooks I've ever seen. They not only have great, fun recipies, but good background info and a list of ingredients that come from animals (so you know to avoid them). Oh, and they are written by two very creative women from Canada.

-Turtle