Let nature feed itself

Kookaburras, Magpies, Currawongs

Unnatural Foods: Meat, mince, bread.

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• These foods can produce imbalances in their nutritional requirements, causing severe deficiencies.
• You may encourage the overpopulation of these species, which is a problem as they are predatory.
• Can lose the ability to source food themselves.

Natural Foods: Insects, invertebrates, small reptiles, small mammals such as rodents

Enjoy wildlife without feeding:

• Leave leaf litter in your garden as it will attract insects, vertebrates and lizards.
• Leave safe dead trees and hollowed limbs of live trees.
• Plant native trees.
• Call WIRES if you find sick or injured animals.

Rosella, Cockatoos

Unnatural Foods: Galah’s - Bread, fruit, food scraps, seed mixes.

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• Bread has poor nutritional balance.
• Introduced fruit is not a natural part of their diet.
• Seed mixes are rarely nutritionally balanced, and many are difficult to eat.
• Encourages a population that would normally be nomadic to become sedentary, thus not balancing their diet.

Natural Foods: Native grasses and seeds, a large variety of insects and their leaves, hardened fruits like gum nuts.

Enjoy wildlife without feeding:

• Leave safe dead trees and hollowed limbs of live trees – the hollows provide nesting sites.
• Provide a balance of vegetation in your garden by avoiding hybrid native plants.
• Provide water in varying depths with protection from neighbourhood cats.

Lorikeets, Honeyeaters

Unnatural Foods: Sugar and water, honey and water bread, non-native fruit seed mixes.

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• The digestive system of these birds is designed for a predominately liquid intake. Bread, seed mixes and fruit quickly fill the bird and slow the digestion process, leading to vitamin and mineral deficiencies predisposing the birds to disease through bacterial and yeast infections.
• Diseases such as beak and feather diseases are easily spread through communal feeding trays.
• With a regular food supply, nomadic birds will breed out of season thus becoming sedentary, creating localised overpopulation and leading to further disease.
• Causes competition for insects and nesting sites harm smaller species.

Natural Foods: Nectar and pollen from eucalypt and other native flowers Native berries and blossoms insects and their larvae.

Enjoy wildlife without feeding:

• Provide a balance of vegetation in your garden by avoiding hybrid native plants.
• Provide water in varying depths with protection from neighbour's cats by planting at varying heights around the water source.
• Leave ‘safe’ dead trees and hollowed limbs of live trees – the hollows providing nesting sites.

Ducks

Unnatural Foods: Bread, chips, vegetables, scraps, leftovers.

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• These foods do not provide the correct nutritional balance, causing deficiencies and predisposing them to disease.
• Bread can ferment in the gut, causing bacterial infections.
• Food settles on the bottom of ponds and rots causing levels of bacteria to rise and can cause things such as botulism, which can kill ducks.

Natural Foods: Plants growing along the water's edge, as well as in the water, shrimps and mussels, small aquatic animals and insects.

Enjoy wildlife without feeding:

• Contact your environment centre or council to clean up and regenerate the local pond, lake or lagoon.
• Record your observations on the conditions of your local ducks, their environment and any changes that may be useful to your environment centre.
• Call WIRES if you find a sick or injured duck.

Kangaroos

Unnatural Foods: Bread, leftovers, milk.

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• Kangaroos are designed to eat large amounts of low protein roughage such as native grasses and browse. Human food is a poor substitute with little nutritional value and will disrupt their natural intake.
• If fed milk, the gut becomes aggravated causing diarrhoea and dehydration which can result in death
• Bread is a soft food, and if eaten regularly, it can result in gum problems. Once this occurs, it only takes a hardened grain or twig to puncture the gum allowing the disease ‘lumpy jaw’ to infect the gum area.

Natural Foods: Grasses and smaller macropods such as wallabies also eat fungus and insects.

Enjoy wildlife without feeding: Call WIRES if you find a sick, injured, or orphaned animal.

Possums

Unnatural Foods: Bread, fruit, food scraps, milk (soy, cow, goat).

Feeding wildlife unnatural foods can do enormous harm:

• Fruits are not digested easily by ringtail possums; they ferment in the gut and produce vast quantities of gas – death is usually the end result.
• If fed milk, it aggravates their digestive system, causing diarrhoea and dehydration, which can result in death.
• Introducing a new food source ultimately reduces the possum’s territories, creating overpopulation of areas and predisposing them to disease.

Natural Foods: Bark, grass and leaves, eucalypt trees being the favourite for the leaves and flowers, native fruit and small insects.

Enjoy wildlife without feeding:

• Provide a balance of vegetation in your garden; avoid hybrid native plants.
• If possible keep your compost heap enclosed to prevent possums from scavenging and using this as their only source of food. It also discourages rodents.

For more information, download our WIRES Living with Wildlife Factsheet here.

To access 24/7 rescue advice and assistance for sick, injured and orphaned native animals call 1300 094 737, or fill in the online rescue form.