Please Stop: Man Praised For Feeding Wild Buck in Viral Video

It’s never a good idea to interact with wild animals, but people continue to do it as part of tourism schemes or for selfies. Getting too close to wildlife can be dangerous for both the animal and people involved, and yet, one man is being praised for feeding and interacting with wild deer and bucks.

The man, who regularly uploads to his YouTube channel Deer Whisperer Lynn Smith, shared a video of himself opening his house door and calling out, “Buddy.” Afterward, he sits back and sips some coffee while a buck strolls up the path to his house. The man then holds out a treat for the buck, who walks right into the man’s home to take it.

The video was uploaded on January 20, 2022, and received nearly 11 million views in just a few weeks, along with thousands of comments.

Many people in the comments were impressed with the man’s relationship with the buck, and some praised him for sharing food with a “cute animal.” One person commented, “What makes humans see cute animals and go, ‘I want to feed them.’ It seems innate, I love it,” and hundreds of people agreed.

Despite how “cute” it may seem to be that close and personal with a wild animal, experts caution against it. The University of New Hampshire has an entire page dedicated to educating the public on why we shouldn’t feed deer.

As the University explains on the page, “Feeding deer often makes them more vulnerable to starvation, predation, disease, and vehicle collisions, among other things…For the long-term health of deer, the best management strategy is to keep deer dependent on their natural food and cover.”

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