<p>It all started with a bird table and a bird feeder. One feeder was not enough and so my husband installed more, some for sunflower-seeds and some for peanuts. After that, we progressed to offering suet cakes in winter. Many birds appreciated the feeders, but so did the raccoons and squirrels. After a period of experimentation with “raccoon-proof” and “squirrel-proof” seed dispensers and suet cages that raccoons expertly dismantled and squirrels gnawed their way into, we resorted to hanging the feeders from the laundry line. I then felt sorry for the disappointed, hungry squirrels and raccoons, and so I heaped food for them on the bird table. One table was not sufficient, so my husband installed a second, larger one.</p>
<p>Our two-acre fish pond attracts a lot of water-fowl, but most of the visitors are able to feed themselves. However, one hot summer we gained a trumpeter swan so weak from heat-exhaustion that it could not fly, and we needed to provide it extra nourishment in the form of duck pellets and corn kernels. The Canada geese soon noticed the food supply and developed a taste for corn. The following year, when the same geese returned in spring they expected to be fed corn, and we gave in.</p>
<p>One winter, the arrival of a flock of wild turkeys prompted us to bring out the corn again. Then skinny deer turned up and began to pathetically lick sunflower seeds and corn off the bird tables, so we began feeding the deer too. When the snow was deep and hungry rabbits turned to stripping the bark from my ornamental shrubs, we cut branches off wild apple trees for the cottontails to gnaw on. Cute, big-eyed bunnies began congregating, looking for handouts. Nervous in my presence, they just sat immobile while I bounced peanuts off them.</p>
<p>Feeding the wildlife now takes a significant portion of our time and budget. I wonder if we should really be doing it at all. On the one hand, the natural habitat of these creatures has been changed and diminished by the expansion of human farming and building, so we bear some blame for them being unable to find enough food. On the other hand, there’s only so much two old people can do, and we can’t do it indefinitely. Is it right to make wild creatures dependent on us, when we know it’s only temporary, or should we just carry on doing what we can, while we can? There’s also the question of whether it is right to allow wildlife to become a bit tame, since the next human they encounter may be out to kill them.</p>
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