RE: Name change
Supplemental feed can disrupt natural migration patterns of some wildlife. Animals that do not migrate naturally because of supplemental feeding operations are often more vulnerable to malnutrition, because they do not have access to the right type and amount of foods found in traditional wintering habitat. Also, without the protection of wintering habitat, animals are particularly vulnerable to severe winter weather and predation.
Predation, not starvation, is the often the major cause of winter mortality for wildlife. Winter severity (deep snow, intense cold) and the quality of wintering habitat are the real determinants of survival in winter. Supplementally-fed animals are still vulnerable to predation, if wintering conditions are severe, particularly where feeding occurs in marginal habitat.
Supplemental feeding may actually increase predation. Providing a supplemental food source crowds deer into a smaller area than when deer range widely to find food. Concentrated deer maintain a limited network of escape trails, since they often bed near feeders. Deer require extensive trails to elude predators. Predation on deer within sight of supplemental feeders is common.
Concentrating animals in a feeding area for extended periods of time will attract more predators and will lead to higher predation that if the animals were spread out
Typically feeding occurs near urban areas which can lead to increase in animals killed by car collisions and other human associated mortality sources.
Unnatural congregations of animals in feeding areas can also increase the instance of communicable disease, especially in the East where deer densities are much higher. There have been documented deer concentrations equivalent to 350 deer per square mile at some feeding sites. This level of crowding produces ideal conditions for outbreaks of infectious diseases. One such outbreak occurred in 1994 among supplementally-fed deer in Michigan. The highly infectious disease, "Bovine tuberculosis," is currently infecting deer and cattle within 4 counties in Michigan. This disease outbreak poses a serious threat to deer populations and livestock in the affected area.
Deer compete aggressively for scarce, high-quality foods. When crowded together, only the strongest, most dominant individuals in the deer population gain access to the food.
When deer are congregated near a feeder or plot, heavy browsing of the adjacent areas will also likely occur, this means landscape plants, shrubs, and anything else. Over-browsing of younger trees can destroy or significantly retard the development of critical future winter shelter.