Something that has been brought to my attention a concerning amount of times in the past week is that people have a tendency to feed animals food that is not meant for animal consumption.

In a recent conversation with Benoni SPCA inspector Renee Rossolimos I learnt that the feeding habits of visitors to the Bunny Park is a large contributing factor of the illnesses (mange and kanker) that have been spreading among the bunnies at the park.

She said wrong feeding has an impact on animals’ susceptibility to become ill.

I understand that we are drawn to adorable, fluffy things and any human being with a heart would feel guilty when eating something while a pair of big puppy eyes is staring at them, but you are not doing it any favours by feeding it food that will upset its stomach or break down its immune system.

Pet foods were scientifically formulated according to the animals’ nutritional needs and animal parks, society’s and pet owners make an effort to implement correct feeding with their animals, and then someone comes and feeds them their spoiled left-over foods which upsets the animals’ stomachs and weakens their organs.

Rossolimos told me that she had recently found visitors to the Bunny Park put pap and chilli sauce on the ground for their animals to eat, which she said can cause severe health issues for them.

“People will feed them anything,” she said.

I saw close-up photographs of bunnies with faces that were moulted away and bleeding from their illnesses.

If you have recently been to the Bunny Park and found the sight of ill bunnies upsetting, do your part in solving the issue by not feeding them just any kinds of food.

It might not be the cause of the illnesses, but it sure as hell is not helping these animals build up their immune systems to fight it and the same goes for other animals.

I believe the problem is that we aren’t informed and might mean well.

If you are unsure of what foods are safe to feed to animals, consult a vet or your local SPCA.

As dogs are the most common animals owned as pets, here is a list of foods that should not be fed to dogs: https://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1659&aid=1030

This article explains other negative effects feeding animals the wrong foods have on them: https://www.humanesociety.org/animals/resources/tips/feed_wildlife.html

The Benoni SPCA can be contacted on 011 894 2814/5TB.