Don’t kill them with kindness

Don’t kill them with kindness. Feeding wild animals on the mountain does more harm than good.. You can help the Peak’s wild animals by not feeding them. “Can one chip hurt?” you may wonder. Yes it can, when multiplied by 2,000 visitors per summer day. Then when the summer’s over, the animals are without their junk food fix.

Even “healthy” foods like grapes, can cause problems. A squirrel may store your handout with its winter food supply. If the grape turns moldy, it could ruin the animal’s caches of food.

Finally, for you own safety, it’s best not to feed wildlife. Mammals may have fleas that carry disease like the bubonic plaque. Also, ground squirrels may accidentally bite the hand that fees them. For everyone’s benefit, enjoy the wildlife by just watching or photographing them. By letting animals eat a natural diet they’ll be healthier and will sty wild.

Photo captions: The Yellow-Bellied Marmot, nicknamed “Whistle pigs,” eat insatiably in summer to store up body fat for their long winter hibernation. These chisel-toothed vegetarians gnaw on leaves and stalks of wild plants. Highly social and territorial, marmots form colonies of one male and a “harem” of females with litters of young. You might see them around Glen Cove or on the summit.

The least Chipmunk has many cousins on the mountain but you will recognize it by the dark brown and white stripes on its face extending from its nose to its ears. During the summer months, they store part of their food supply of seeds nuts, and berries found in abundance on Pikes Peak. They hibernate in winter and use the supply through the spring.