To the Editor:

To the kids and anyone else hand feeding the deer in the parks: Stop.

You are teaching them that it is ok to walk up to a human and get food, so when this fall comes they will be a real easy mark for any hunter who wants one. Also what if they get bite by a deer fly or other bug and they jump or swing their head knocking you down and you get hurt then someone will be yelling the poor thing needs to be killed its dangerous when in fact you should not have been that close, you want to feed deer go to a petting zoo, or somewhere where this is the reason the deer are there.

Find some where in the park you can leave it food, but stay away from it or any other wild life you are only going to bring a bad ending to it, and maybe to yourself, because you are treating it like a pet it is not a pet, it is wild thing that should not be so close to humans.

I know how hard it is to see them and want to get close, but I also know in the end it could get them killed so would rather know they are alive because they maybe got away then dead because it thought all humans would feed it. They don't know a human with a gun/bow is not who they should be walking up to.

If this sounds harsh then so be it, Wild life are not pets they learn bad habits and then when something happens it is not the human who taught it who is punished it is the animal. If you really care about them you will put the food where it can be found and stay away.

Watching from afar can be just as rewarding.

Cynthia Merrick, North Lawrence