Sure, they’re cute. But the natural resources ministry is asking people to stop photographing and feeding wolf cubs near Cochrane.
Outreach specialist Karen Passmore says the cubs are not orphaned and are healthy. People feeding them, however, can do more harm than good.
“What happens is the animals will become dependent on the artificial food source, but more importantly, they can lose their natural fear of human impacts and that will in turn cause more conflict,” she outlines.
Passmore adds that more animals could be attracted, and that could lead to parasites, disease and destruction of natural habitat.
“If they start to learn to associate humans with food, they can become a problem to neighbours and habituated animals may become aggressive if the food sources stop. In addition, artificial feed isn’t healthy for wildlife and can harm them in the long term.”
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