Having a chipmunk come up, sniff your finger cautiously, then nip a treat and run off is magical; I won’t lie – it’s pretty remarkable. But the consequence of that single moment of joy for a person can lead to devastating impacts to ecosystems, communities and individual animals.

Be it for a close-up experience, because of a perception of hunger and need, or even incidental feeding from outdoor pet food or bird feeders, most folks who feed wildlife do so with goodness in their heart. This episode isn’t about blaming or shaming – because that simply doesn’t work. It’s about understanding the complexity of nature and animal behaviour, and the role – often negative – humans end up playing.

You only need to look to British Columbia’s black bears to see the significant impacts of failing to take down bird feeders or be aware of the impact of unintentional and intentional feeding – hundreds of bears killed every year by conservation authorities. You can identify feeding in a significant number of cases when coyotes inappropriately interact with people. And, even with little chipmunks and squirrels, as I note later in this interview, feeding can end up wreaking havoc in an ecosystem or causing behaviour that the public views as aggressive or bold.

To go in-depth on feeding – from causes, to impact to solutions, I reached out to Dr. Sara Dubois, Chief Scientific Officer of the BC SPCA, who is also a professor at University of British Columbia. Dr. Dubois has an impressive background on the subjects of wildlife, ethics, humane treatment of animals in numerous sectors, and, of course, the impact of feeding wildlife.

To learn more about the BC SPCA, visit https://spca.bc.ca/ 

To learn more about the BC SPCA's resources on wildlife feeding, visit https://spca.bc.ca/faqs/feeding-wildlife-bad/

This week's episode art provided by Christiane Cottin (@nanididada on Instagram), who originally submitted the photo to this year's BC SPCA's Wildlife-In-Focus Photo Contest. Check out more entries at https://spca.bc.ca/events/event/wildlife-in-focus/. 

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Host Michael Howie brings you updates on The Fur-Bearers' Read-a-Thon event happening soon and how to register, as well as a look (and the need for your participation) in a new series coming to your Defender Radio podcast feed! 

Episode art for this week from the collection created by Michelle Lee of Broadview Design for The Fur-Bearers' Read-A-Thon event.

Michelle Lee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/broadviewdesign/

Register for the Read-a-Thon or donate now: https://TheFurBearers.com/read

Follow Defender Radio on Instagram: https://instagram.com/howiemichael

Follow Defender Radio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DefenderRadio/

Read-a-Thon tutorial videos: https://thefurbearers.com/our-work/outreach-education/events/read-a-thon/

Parachutes for Pets in Calgary is a grassroots organization that is working to build community supports to protect the connection between people and their companion animals. Their programs include providing pet hampers that have food and supplies, vaccine and wellness clinics, emergency pet packs and more. Often, their services are called upon when people are leaving abusive situations and need support to keep their pets with them.

I connected with Melissa David, founder of Parachutes for Pets, to discuss the evolution of the organization, the needs they address and how you can support them – or create supports in your own community.

Learn more about Parachutes for Pets at https://www.parachutesforpets.com/

Ending Violence Association of Canada: https://endingviolencecanada.org/

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: https://ncadv.org/

Domestic Violence Resources (Canadian Association of Social Workers): https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/resources/domestic-violence-resources

Mental Health Services in Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/mental-health-services/mental-health-get-help.html

Mental Health Services in America: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help/

Kids Help Phone: https://kidshelpphone.ca/

Urban Resource Institute, America’s largest domestic violence residential service provider. and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, recently released the results of their national survey. The PALS survey, part of URI’s People and Animals Living Safely, clearly showed the fear for safety of pets is a critical component in a persons’ decision in leaving abusive situations. The findings are staggering – with 97% of respondents saying that keeping their pets is an important factor in deciding to seek shelter, and 50% saying they would not consider shelter for themselves if they could not take their pets with them.

To discuss the important findings in this survey, I was joined by Danielle Emery, URI’s Director of People and Animals Living Safely program.

Read the PALS report: https://urinyc.org/palsreport/

Learn more about Urban Resource Institute: https://urinyc.org/

Ending Violence Association of Canada: https://endingviolencecanada.org/

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: https://ncadv.org/

Domestic Violence Resources (Canadian Association of Social Workers): https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/resources/domestic-violence-resources

Mental Health Services in Canada: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/mental-health-services/mental-health-get-help.html

Mental Health Services in America: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help/

Kids Help Phone: https://kidshelpphone.ca/