In yet another instance of casually tossing personal dignity into the void, someone mistook a towering African kudu for a pet and learned the hard way that you shouldn't approach wild animals.
Fortunately, personal dignity was apparently all this woman lost in the latest viral video of "feeding wild animal" encounters.
The video, which shows her approaching the animal to try to feed it, was posted by Tourons of National Parks (@touronsofnationalparks) with a caption that read: "The animals are WILD animals. They are not your pets and they are not your friends!"
It's understandable that people want to be kind and look for ways to help. However, animal philanthropy of any kind should come with a disclaimer: not only is feeding them a danger to yourself — but also to them.
According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, human-wildlife conflicts are a growing public health concern across the world. But studies like this are indicative of the human cost, not the other side of these conflicts.
There are two types of feeding to consider: accidental and purposeful. The latter is typically born of ignorance, watching too many movies and assuming animals such as alligators will happily eat from your hand.
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However, animals have highly specialized diets. They thrive on their ability to seek out and consume specific foods. Feeding them the wrong thing can result in malnutrition.
Wild animal feeding also contributes to gatherings where a group of wild animals will gather in the expectation of food. Unfortunately, many animals carry diseases. In their natural environment, this serves as a sort of population control mechanism.
Gathering in large numbers means the rapid, unnatural spreading of these diseases. They also become accustomed to people. However, there's a big difference between accustomed and domesticated.
"Accidental" usually revolves around trash. Maintain your food containers, keep them sealed, and store them properly. It should go without saying that littering is strongly discouraged as well.
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"But why though, how is that something a person would assume is safe to do?" asked one commenter.
Another said: "Now this is just plain ignorance."
"You are lucky, ma'am," is probably the most straightforward and important comment of all.
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