Although good intentions to offer food to neighbors are usually considered admirable, when it comes to wildlife, feeding wild animals is more harmful than helpful, Colorado Parks and Wildlife states.

It is illegal in Colorado to place or distribute food for big-game animals. This law applies to deer, elk, pronghorn, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, as well as mountain lions and bears. Violators face a $100 fine.

During this springtime thaw, animals are struggling to find food. While some may feed hungry wildlife to help them, this can result in sickness or even death for the animals.

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“It’s best to simply let Mother Nature take care of wild animals,” Parks and Wildlife stated. “If you don’t, you quite literally could end up loving our wildlife to death.”​

Parks and Wildlife states that they conduct emergency feeding of big-game animals only during extremely harsh winters when the survival of a substantial numbers of animals is at risk. In all other cases, it’s better for the animals, people and the environment to let nature take its course.

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Parks and Wildlife recently released a series of song parodies to help communicate the negative effects of feeding wildlife.

“These creative spinoffs of popular songs like ‘Imagine,’ ‘Jolene’, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ are based on real-life events of people feeding wildlife. They are designed to educate people about the importance of keeping wildlife wild and emphasize that feeding wildlife is considered unacceptable behavior in Colorado,” Parks and Wildlife stated in a press release.

Check out the videos below: