How close is too close for wildlife watching? Article #4

How close is too close for wildlife watching? By: Katharine Fletcher

Clayton McWilliams

    Rating***

    I found this article was very well written but it wasn’t as entertaining as I had hoped. Throughout this article, the author retells what happened at Mud Lake when people were feeding owls, this led to the owls not knowing how to hunt because they expected people to feed them, this left the owls totally unprepared for how they would actually have to hunt for food. Furthermore this article talks about leaving no trace, which means not disturbing any plant or wildlife, which includes feeding animals. In addition it tells the guidelines of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, which is to leave no trace, and it also adds to read how the animal feels. If a bird is starting to fly away, you have disturbed it, if you run towards a bear it will interpret it as a sign of aggression and then associate humanes to be aggressive creatures.

This article taught me to keep my distance if I was ever taking pictures of wildlife, you shouldn’t get close to animals because you will disturb their privacy, and it could also lead to harm to yourself or the animal. It also taught me to never feed animals because it will make them rely on humans to feed them, when in reality, not every person will feed them. In addition, this article taught me too never run towards animals, especially bears, because they will then associate aggressive behaviours with people, and in turn, will show aggression towards humans, and aggression to them is attacking and possibly killing humans. This article has inspired me to stay connected with wildlife but to never change it by not feeding or hunting animals. This was a very educational article and I recommend it to anybody with interest in wildlife photography.

Fletcher, Katharine. 'How Close Is Too Close For Wildlife Watching?'. Ottawa Outdoors 2015: 1. Print.