Long-Term Wild Animal Feeding Destroying Forest|人為餵食改變習性 松鼠恐威脅生態

One visitor says the squirrels often mass congregate and are not scared of humans. Instead, they run over and surround people at the first sight of food. As visitors often leave food behind, the squirrel population is rapidly growing. In Nantou's Xitou, the squirrel population is virtually out of control. Squirrels not only surround people who are holding food, but also forage for food in trash cans.

(If I'm eating something), they'll stare at me. (They'll stare at you? Do you feed them?) I don't feed them. (So, you don't feed them.)

The burgeoning squirrel population is a threat to Xitou's cryptomeria. Many of the trees are missing large patches of bark and turning red. National Taiwan University researchers say squirrels like cryptomeria bark because it is sweet, but the trees are now dying. Over 25 percent of NTU's 200-hectare experimental forest has been damaged due to long-term animal feeding by humans.

When the trees turn red, it's a sign they are starting to die. When squirrels are fed human food, they become a threat to the forest.

The researchers say squirrel and human habitats now overlap because of the feeding. In addition, squirrels' natural behavior has changed and they go after the trees when they don't have enough food. The researchers are imploring people to stop feeding wild animals.