Today's Duluth News Tribune has an Associated Press story on a man who feeds bears at his cabin in Alaska ("Alaska cracks down on man who feeds wild bears"). The state charged Charley Vandergraw with several counts of illegally feeding game. Some think the state is wrong in restricting his freedom. Others think he is crazy, remembering Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend who were eaten by bears they had been feeding.
Vandergraw has been videotaped for broadcast feeding the bears, "Stranger among the Bears", Animal Planet. On one of the videos he says, "I think basically what I do is my business as long as I'm not hurting anyone." That is the fallacy of many who think their actions have no effect on others: what happens when one of those bears encounters a human who doesn't feed it?
Closer to home, we have people who think they're doing gulls and deer a favor by feeding them. They aren't doing people a favor by increasing bird droppings at Canal Park and by decreasing the flowers and vegetables in gardens.
