Should we feed wildlife? A call for further research into this recreational activity

Independent human-wildlife feeding interactions (i.e., the feeding of wildlife by the public outside of organized ecotourism activities) represent an increasingly common way in which humans and wildlife are engaging with one another. It is important to determine what effects these interactions are having on the wildlife involved in order to ensure that optimum coexistence scenarios are being achieved, however the nature of these interactions makes them notoriously difficult to study. Extrapolation from ecotourism activities has suggested detrimental impacts on the health and fecundity of the populations involved. Moreover, recent findings indicate that bold individuals may actually gain reproductive advantages from this excess food supply, driving artificial selection of risk-taking behaviors within human-dominated landscapes. Humans may, therefore, be unknowingly manipulating wildlife populations, forcing them into unnatural states, and potentially decreasing future viability. Here, we outline key literature pertaining to the potential impacts of these self-led interactions on wildlife and address the need for further research into the associated effects. Due to the associated safety risks to the humans involved in these interactions, and by applying the precautionary principle until further research can be performed, we recommend that management actions be employed to actively reduce their occurrence. We address current management practices in use and make recommendations for further research to adapt and improve them. Ultimately, we make a call for further research addressing two fundamental key areas: (i) to explore the effects of these interactions on the wildlife involved, across different species and habitats experiencing this phenomenon, with emphasis on the potential role of artificial selection, and (ii) to work to improve the management practices currently employed to reduce the occurrence of these interactions, at least until such time as the effects of these interactions on both humans and wildlife have been thoroughly disentangled, with the overall goal of improving coexistence.