#Cap n crunch discontinued free#

The Audubon Society’s Stephen Kress therefore recommends that all feeders be thoroughly scrubbed with a non-chlorine bleach several times a year. He also notes that piles of uneaten seed accumulating below a feeder are breeding grounds for bacteria and should be removed when there’s a break in the weather.Īnd a final word about bread. Don’t. Breads are notoriously lacking in the nutrients birds require for healthy growth. Angel wing, a debilitating deformity in wing development, is common in public parks where well-meaning visitors shower sandwich crumbs on waterfowl who readily gobble them up. has, for example, been partly tied to the clustering of finches at feeders. The spread of house finch eye disease (mycoplasmal conjunctivitis) throughout the eastern U.S. However it has also been shown that avian diseases spread more easily when birds congregate by feeders.

In the United Kingdom, the number is closer to 75 percent.īad idea? No. At least not if a few reasonable precautions are taken. A variety of studies have shown that feeding birds does not make them overly dependent on our handouts. Even when well-stocked feeders are available in everyone’s backyard, most species only obtain about 25 percent of their winter diet from human sources. The damage a raccoon can do in the garden is well-known to anyone who thought he might wait just one more day before harvesting the corn. Of more serious concern, raccoon feces are usually contaminated with Baylisascaris procyonis, a dangerous roundworm parasite that can sometimes infect humans and their pets.įor these and other reasons, virtually all wildlife biologists strongly advise against feeding wildlife.īut what about the bird feeders in the backyard? It’s been estimated that some 40 percent of American households feed birds. It may seem like a fine nature lesson for the kids to watch a pair of raccoons through the kitchen window exploring an open compost heap in the backyard. But it doesn’t take a lot to habituate the bandits to humans and they don’t respect property lines between one yard and the next.

#Cap n crunch discontinued free#

And when an animal comes to associate human scent with a free dinner, it’s unlikely to turn out well for either party.ĭeer biologists, for example, have found that folks who kindly provide safe winter feeding stations for the animals in their backyards can expect them as visitors in the warmer seasons to their vegetable and rose gardens. While one or two meals are unlikely to do much harm, prolonged feeding leads to trouble. A wild animal that learns it can fill its belly from a readily available surfeit of stale Cheerios, English muffins and salad fixings will be less likely to forage for the diversity of natural foods needed for its long-term survival.Īlso, sites where food may be reliably found tend to attract animals from surrounding areas and this can lead to a range of problematic human-wildlife interactions.Įven if we never see the possum or coyote that takes what we’ve left out, they will surely know us by our odor, which will be all over the food. Human foods - especially highly processed varieties - are nutritionally inadequate to the needs of wild animals. Raccoons, foxes and deer are not four-legged furry versions of ourselves, and their dietary needs are quite different from our own. But many species are opportunistic and are, often to their detriment, only too happy to scarf up our leavings, Unfortunately, there are significant problems associated with the generous impulse to share our scraps with wild animals. Neatly deposited in a trash can by the parking lot were several empty cereal boxes, one of which was embellished with the good Captain’s trademark bushy white eyebrows and bicorn hat. Additionally, small patches of iceberg lettuce and cherry tomatoes had been set out along the other side of the path.įood doesn’t come cheaply and the desire to find a useful way to avoid chucking unwanted comestibles into the waste bin is a praiseworthy objective. Trailing from the parking lot along one side of the wooded path, a well-intentioned soul had carefully spaced out little clusters of the multi-colored morsels.

One Good Samaritan’s family recently thought to share their Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries with the wild animals living by the paved walkway passing through one of our city parks. Since its introduction in 1963, over 25 varieties of Cap’n Crunch corn and oats breakfast cereals have graced the nation’s grocery shelves.įrom the original brown sugar-and-butter taste developed by flavorist Pamela Low to the sadly discontinued Cap'n Crunch's Mystery Volcano Crunch (packaged with Lava Rocks that popped in milk), the storied product development and creative marketing voyages of Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch have shaped the morning rituals for millions of Americans.