Why Shouldn Someone Feed Bears on a Backpack Camping Trip?
Feeding wild animals is never a good idea for backpackers and campers; not only is the practice often unhealthy for the animals from a nutritive standpoint, but it tends to promote tense confrontations. Bears, catholic in their diet and enormously powerful, can become dangerous if they associate human beings with low-effort meals. Backpackers, who more than any other outdoor recreationists may be penetrating remote, heavily-used bear country, should never feed ursids — and that means not only withholding scraps from begging animals but also keeping a clean camp and securing stored supplies.
