Re: "Easy food deadly for grizzlies," Oct. 21:

This article ought to be a wake-up call for everyone that thinks we are helping an animal when we give away free sustenance for any reason. In this case, it appears that the wildlife photographer may have been feeding the bear to get the bear in close enough to get a good photograph. What he did was to create a dependent that got used to the freebie and could no longer survive without it.

The bear was relocated, but guess what? He came back for the easy life and eventually was shot and killed. I think it may have been a better idea to trap him and put him in a zoo, but what do I know? I am guilty of creating dependent turkeys myself by feeding them in front of my house. Every day my dependents show up at about the same time for the free food. The lesson here is to not create a dependent class, whether it is four-legged or two-legged.
Mike Scalera, Spokane

Question: Do you think there's any connection between "Don't feed the wildlife" and "Don't give to panhandlers" or "Eliminate the welfare state"? Differences?

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