By Dr. Ken Werley
Los Alamos

Human feeding of wildlife can be defined as humans placing edible material where wildlife has access to it.

The County of Los Alamos is by far the biggest feeder of wild animals. The golf course, the parks, the ball fields and the schools all feed wildlife all year long through its fertilizing and heavily watering. Ashley Pond and the Nature Center are both big feeders of wildlife, including fish, birds, reptiles and mammals. Probably the second biggest human-supplied source of food for wildlife are the town’s fruit trees. Yards and gardens also supply much food to wildlife. Even bird feeders attract predators.

New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (DGF) Officer Carter is a hater of wildlife. He appears to hate predators in town because they are predators. He hates other wildlife because they can attract predators or get hit by cars. Why does DGF even hire someone who hates animals?

Back in May this year, Officer Tyler Carter launched a campaign to stop the feeding of wildlife in Los Alamos by people. He carried a long list of reported feeding locations that he was visiting where he harassed and threatened people with fines. He did this even though it is legal to feed wildlife in New Mexico. I saw 18 bear last year, and not a single one of them harassed or threatened me.

DGF has a statute that outlaws the “creation of nuisance animals”. A rational person would interpret this to mean that individual problem situations and animals be dealt with. Officer Carter cites 4 instances of bad bear, a lion and a deer behavior. Instead of dealing with 4 nuisance animals, Officer Carter condemns whole classes of animals and all feeding of wildlife. It is analogous to condemning all people as evil because 4 stores were robbed. Officer Carter (May) quotes: “The deer in town, the mountain lions, and the bears are all nuisance animals.” and “No house in town will be feeding deer!” He uses this personal declaration of all animals being a nuisance to subvert the law where it is legal to feed wildlife in New Mexico.

It is now 7 months since Carter banned feeding of deer. I have lived here 39 years. The deer have not changed their behavior. Carter even reports that the number of wildlife “incidents” continue to pile up. Clearly, Carter’s approach to ban feeding by individual people doesn’t work. If Officer Carter has already banned the feeding of nuisance animals, why is he now pushing for the outlawing of feeding all wildlife?

SUMMARY

Officer Carter’s shortfalls:

• He claims all deer, bear and lions in Los Alamos are nuisance animals.
• He won’t define numerical criteria used to declare nuisance animals.
• He doesn’t explain how feeding a small amount creates a nuisance animal.
• He doesn’t consider the amount of food given per animal.
• He doesn’t define numerical goals that he hopes to achieve by banning the feeding of wildlife. By his definition of nuisance animals, the only way to solve his problem would be to eliminate all the animals from Los Alamos.
• He refuses to explain what constitutes feeding: For example, filling bird feeders with birdseed, spreading birdseed on the ground, allowing birds to knock birdseed to the ground, fertilizing the yard, allowing weeds to grow, filling the hummingbird feeder with nectar, spreading bread crumbs on the ground for ravens, allowing fruit to lie in the ground, planting a fruit tree, planting an unfenced garden. I have seen wildlife feed on all of the above activities. If a person is threatened with citations and fines for feeding deer, it would seem that Carter ought provide detailed rules for what is legal.
• He blindly ignores that the main feeding provided to town deer is by the County through fertilizing and heavily watering of Parks and the Golf Course and by fruit tree owners. He states that “The golf course, fruit trees and small private gardens do not contribute”. [Carter 6/1/2024 e-mail] That view is just stupid, surely the largest food sources most affect wildlife habits.
• He blindly and unfairly targets individuals who have been reported as feeding animals.
• He doesn’t consider that much of the land in Los Alamos is undeveloped land (golf course and canyons). How can anyone expect wildlife to not utilize the area?
• He ignores that 80% of my neighbors have fruit trees. He ignores that deer feed on fruit trees from early spring (flowers and new leaves), through late spring (immature fruit blown off of trees), through summer and fall (ripe fruit), and through late fall (fallen leaves).
• Officer Carter claims it is illegal to feed deer fruit underneath a fruit tree where they are already feeding. Where is any logic in that? (Carter e-mail 6/27/2024).
• He claims it is illegal to feed deer on the golf course where they are already feeding. Deer often feed there for multiple hours per day. (Carter e-mail 6/27/2024).
• He doesn’t report the number of bear and lion attacks on people in Los Alamos over the last decade.
• How can anyone create a nuisance animal if it is already a nuisance (because it exists in town by Officer Carter’s logic) before ever getting to any residence?
• Officer Carter doesn’t survey Los Alamos residents to see if they consider the local wildlife a nuisance before unilaterally declaring them a nuisance?
• He doesn’t distinguish what fraction of wildlife/vehicle accidents are caused by inattentive drivers, speeding, or road design.
• He won’t explain if he considers birdseed an unnatural food of deer.
• Even though it is legal to feed wildlife in New Mexico, he (a DGF employee) refuses to answer a question of: where is it legal to feed wildlife in Los Alamos County.
• He ignores the benefits of local deer: eating weeds and fallen leaves from yards, cleaning up fallen fruit before they begin to rot, chasing away coyotes, being beautiful to observe and photograph?

This spring/summer, I have seen deer, rabbit, skunk, Abert squirrel, rock squirrel, chipmunk, raccoon, fox, coyote, and bear pass through my yard. Each animal has improved the quality of life of living in Los Alamos.  

[Interesting aside: People cause car accidents, attract predators and spread diseases. Does that mean that all people are nuisance animals, so Officer Carter probably thinks that the County should outlaw feeding people?]

Does the County really want to close the golf course and the Nature Center? Please do not outlaw the feeding of wildlife in Los Alamos.