The unprecedented exodus of wildlife towards densely urbanized settlements is a joy to behold. However, is feeding artificial substances a death in disguise?
As most of us remain under lockdown to fight the novel coronavirus, nature is on a path-breaking course to reboot itself from human greed and disintegrating the carbon footprints. Wild animals and birds are now swarming the streets of Mumbai and several parts of the nation that were once cramped with humans are now experiencing this unprecedented phenomenon.Ā
A few are on a mission to feed the strays across the town, however, human curiosity has always jeopardized the future of wildlife. These curious feeders tend to go close to the wild animals and birds, trying to feed fried snacks.
Environmentalists believe that feeding artificial substances will show adverse effects in the long run, as the animals tend to be dependent on humans and they would lose their ability to scavenge food.Ā
Research has also proved that wild animals have specialized diets, and they can become malnourished or die if fed the wrong food. Their inability to distinguish food can lead to a serious outcome. Humans can only feed a certain number of species, as grains only benefit a few. These selective species get a survival advantage over others and this gradually changes the species composition in the area.Ā
Birds are known to possess highly varied diets as some fruit eaters are only known to feed on a specific variety of fruits. For example, peacocks/peafowls are omnivores birds – they will eat almost anything both meat and vegetation. In the wild peacocks/peafowls eat fruit, berries, grains, small mammals, reptiles, small snakes and insects. They like ants, millipedes, crickets, termites, centipedes, locust, and scorpions.
However, the recent peafowl spotting has piqued the Mumbaikars interests and their seemingly inexorable urge to decrease the distance between them can possibly lead to chaos among their species.
In addition to it, Feeding makes the animals fearless of humans, making them an easy target for poachers.
It is the curiosity that has affected the survival of animals. Humans have been curious for a long time now, and it is time that we hit a break on our curiosity at least for some time now and let nature recover itself. It is understood that we want to help, however lack of knowledge can change their diet patterns which will invariably harm them.Ā
The Nemophilist 