Jackson Hole news | Jackson Hole feature | Jackson Hole environmental | Jackson Hole sports | Today's News

County bans wildlife feeding
5-0 vote ends contentious debate over feeding of animals on private lands.

By Rebecca Huntington

Following an emotional, two-year debate, The Teton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to prohibit private citizens from feeding wildlife.

Commissioners made Tuesday's decision in front of an audience of opponents and after testimony that included a scolding and an outburst that had board chairman Bill Paddleford calling for order. The issue has polarized opponents, spawned advertising campaigns, letters to the editor and accusations of misrepresentation and hidden agendas.

Commissioner Andy Schwartz dismissed a planning commission recommendation that the issue was one the state should address. He said the community would be waiting a long time if it relied on Wyoming to act in the best interest of Teton County.

"Hopefully, if we can resolve this we will be an example for the rest of the state," Schwartz said.

Likewise, Commissioner Jim Darwiche said, "We know Wyoming is a widespread state and our problems are different than other areas. Remember we live right at the border of [Grand Teton National Park]." Grand Teton prohibits wildlife feeding, Darwiche noted.

Commissioners Larry Jorgenson and John Carney also agreed wildlife feeding was best dealt with by local government.

"The government closest to the people is the best government," Carney said. "If we need to adapt this amendment, we will do that."

The planning commission also said the ban would be difficult for the county to enforce. Schwartz said the county has plenty of regulations that are tough to enforce, dismissing that as a reason to vote against. He cited the county's recent legal victory over a regulation restricting house sizes, which went all the way to the Wyoming Supreme Court, as evidence of the county's commitment to its rules.

Darwiche said cost should not be put before principle.

Commissioners made their 5-0 decision after 26 people testified before a crowd of more than 50 at Snow King Resort. The majority of testimony, including from several Jackson Hole wildlife biologists, supported the ban. Proponents said the ban would protect the health and safety of both animals and people.

Supporters of the ban said feeding habituates animals to people, making those animals lose their natural fear of humans. As a result, the wildlife become unpredictable, aggressive and dangerous, they said. In addition, feeding artificially concentrates deer, elk and moose, which then draws predators to residential neighborhoods.

Marian Meyers, who proposed the regulation with Len Carlman and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, said she became involved after a mountain lion camped out in Solitude subdivision. She learned from state biologists that the lion was there because of deer being fed in the subdivision, she said.

Opponents of the ban countered that halting feeding would create the very problems the county is trying to avoid.

The animals are already habituated to feeding, said Evanston biologist Bob Wharff, who represents the new group, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife Wyoming. "You may actually be throwing gas on the fire."

Wyoming Game and Fish regional Supervisor Bernie Holz agreed moose could continue to visit areas where they have been fed in the past for several years.

But commissioners said they were willing to deal with the short-term consequences for long-term benefits. "If I do things wrong that doesn't mean I have to keep doing it," Darwiche said.

Supporters of the ban gave multiple accounts of aggressive wildlife charging children, cornering women on porches and snowbanks and even killing a friend.

Jackson wildlife biologist and filmmaker Shane Moore said a bear killed a close friend. The bear had been habituated to human food and that likely contributed to his friend's death, he said.

"Are food-conditioned animals more dangerous? Absolutely," he said. Moreover, feeding does a disservice to wildlife, he said. Some states are killing thousands of deer to prevent the spread of diseases, which are more readily transmitted when animals are artificially concentrated on feed, he said.

Moore and other biologists also said they have necropsied dead deer and found their stomachs full of feed pellets. Deer need rough materials, such as branches, in their diet to properly digest their food, Holz said.

Teton County resident Marcia Kunstel said people could help the animals by planting willows and other natural foods instead of putting out artificial feed.

Opponents of the ban, however, called it a "death sentence" for wildlife. Solitude subdivision resident Barbara Magin said she made an informed decision to join the subdivision's tradition of supplemental winter feeding after consulting with biologists.

She has been an animal welfare advocate for 40 years and closely studied moose in her backyard for years, she said. She has been called a "moose whisperer" and the Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey of moose, she said.

She is not a biologist, she said, adding, "I don't collar a moose. I don't watch it starve to death and then write a paper on it."

Animals will die as a result of the regulation, Magin said. "If you pass a feeding ban the impact on animals next winter will be catastrophic."

In addition, when the animals come expecting food and they're not fed, they will damage private property and overwhelm ranches in search of food, she said. More predators will come into neighborhoods to eat the weakened deer and moose, she said.

Magin and other opponents of the regulation called it part of a "hidden" agenda to halt feeding on National Elk Refuge and state-run feed grounds. Magin said National Elk Refuge biologist Bruce Smith's goal was to halt feeding statewide before he retires.

That comment prompted outcry from the audience, which Chairman Paddleford quelled. Earlier in the meeting, Teton County resident Becky Cooetta scolded some of the feeding proponents for trying to get Smith fired for giving his professional opinion on feeding. Smith has supported the county ban.

"Shame on you to those who have threatened Bruce Smith's job and livelihood," Cooetta said, her voice shaking with emotion.

Meyers and others said they had no hidden agenda to ban feeding by professionals on the refuge or state feedgrounds. Proponents of the ban said there is a difference between trained professionals running a feeding program and private citizens putting out food for wildlife. Giving one example, a proponent said some private citizens feed animals for a few years and then move away.

Commissioner Larry Jorgenson said he opposed feeding because it detracts from the "wild spirit" of wildlife. He added an amendment to the regulation to list that as one of the reasons for banning it.

Jorgenson said he has received more written comments on wildlife feeding than on any other issue. "The emotion in this community that this issue has stirred makes the Canyon Club look like a picnic," Jorgenson said.

Respond to this article by e-mailing publisher@jhnewsandguide.com