In the movie, The Great Outdoors, actor John Candy takes his son to view the wild bears while the family is on vacation at a lakefront cabin in Wisconsin. Viewers laughed as John Candy enticed the bears to his station wagon with candy bars and laughed even harder when the bears jumped on his car, scratched windows and paint and refused to jump off as Candy slowly drove away. While this scene in the movie was humorous, it does have an important message to impart.
Humans shouldn’t feed wildlife.
The bears in the movie came to a certain spot where they knew the tourists would feed them. If you feed wild animals on your property they will keep returning to the source of readily available food.
Wildlife Becomes Dependent
In the movie, there wasn’t just one bear at the dump where the tourist watched them. There were multiple bears because feeding one animal soon attracts other animals — of the same species and of different species. The wild animal population often increases because of the availability of a food source. Then you move or head to warmer climates for a couple of months.
The animals that relied on your food, especially when the population has grown because of it, begin to starve as there is not enough food in the wild to support the wildlife population and the foraging skills of the wildlife have been dulled by the easy access to food.
When too many animals congregate in a location, the chance of disease also increases and animals that are fed near roads or highways have a higher incidence of being killed by vehicles.
Wildlife Can be Dangerous
Another important reason not to feed wildlife is that they become used to human interaction. “When a wild animal loses its fear of humans, it rarely ever ends well,” according to wildlife expert John Griff, a longtime conservationist working for California State Parks and host of the Animal Planet Show Wild Jobs.1
While wild animals are often cute, they are still wild and can bite, kick, charge and attack if they feel threatened or aren’t getting the food you usually provide. Griff also points out that neighbors don’t often share the same love of wildlife and take steps to kill or have the animals removed.
These steps can include putting out poison that the animal will ingest. If other animals feed on the poisoned animal, they too, can die.
Wildlife Can Get Sick
The diet of an animal in the wild is quite different than what a human consumes. When you feed wild animals human food they get used to it and may stop hunting, foraging or scavenging as they would naturally and stop eating the nutrients they need to survive.2 Feeding wildlife human food can also lead to malnourishment and even death, as animals can’t distinguish food from food wrappers that may be hazardous to them.3
A Safe Way to Feed Wildlife
Feeding wild birds doesn’t have the same consequences as feeding other wild animals. It is recommended that instead of feeding wild animals, homeowners plant native plants that the wild animals can eat and which provide cover for them. To determine what plants are native to your area go to the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder site.4 Growing native plants is a practical and safe way to enjoy wildlife while also protecting them and keeping them wild.
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1 Wildlife Expert Issues Passionate Warning Against Common Backyard Habit That Can Actually Hurt Animals: ‘Stop It Please’ by Tina Deines, 12/1/2025
Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wildlife-expert-issues-passionate-warning-against-common-backyard-habit-that-can-actually-hurt-animals-stop-it-please/ar-AA1RtRjA?
2 I Didn’t Know That: Don’t Feed Wildlife
Link: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/idkt_feedingwildlife.htm
3 Don’t Feed the Wildlife, 11/13/2025
Link: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife-services/dont-feed-wildlife
4 Native Plant Finder
Link: https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/