Tourists Offer Food to Birds at Balcões and Caldeirão Verde
Visitors have been seen giving seeds and pieces of bread to wild birds at well-known walking trails, including the Balcões viewpoint and the Caldeirão Verde path. Footage from RTP Madeira shows people attracting birds for photographs, sometimes using seeds bought in shops or bringing large amounts of food in plastic bags.
Besides greatly harming our fauna and our chaffinch, which is already very sick, the illness - the bacteria it catches - causes impaired movement, blindness, warts on its legs and wings. And there is a second problem: in addition to severely harming the chaffinch, this also contributes to another major issue - since it moves less, it becomes easy prey for predators, which in this case unfortunately are rats
Feeding Birds Harms Wildlife and Disrupts Habitats
Authorities warn that human food can damage birds’ health. “This type of action can even be considered an environmental crime,” was said on RTP Madeira. Birds may consume food their bodies cannot process, which can cause illness and impair movement. Foreign seeds from shops can also introduce non-native plants into the laurel forest, threatening the ecosystem.
Illnesses Make Birds Easy Prey for Predators
The report describes health effects such as infections that lead to poor movement, blindness and skin lesions on legs and wings. Conservation workers say that sick birds are more likely to fall victim to predators like rats. Feeding wild birds, they add, increases these risks and weakens already fragile populations.
The Miradouro dos Balcões is nowadays one of the places where you can most often see these problems - forest damage, burn marks - essentially, any location with a higher concentration of tourists. Fortunately, today most guides have stopped doing this; 99% no longer feed the birds. But tourists - this is something that has been, in quotes, “promoted” on the internet, especially the Balcões viewpoint
Calls Grow for Stricter Oversight and Visitor Education
The IFCN has placed signs on the busiest trails reminding visitors not to feed wildlife. Some locals call for staff with authority to monitor tourist hotspots. The RTP report also mentions a recent incident in which a person who warned others about feeding was confronted at the Miradouro dos Balcões. Officials note that most professional guides no longer encourage the practice, but they urge all visitors to respect and protext Madeira’s birds and forests.
Source: RTP Madeira
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