Colorado Parks and Wildlife urges the public to refrain from feeding wildlife, as it is more harmful than helpful.

Under Colorado law, feeding big game animals is illegal because it puts wildlife health and safety at risk. Those in violation are subject to fines, and even worse, could cause an animal to become sick and die.

According to CPW, humans can be helpful to wildlife in the following ways:

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• Do not approach, touch or feed wild animals.
• Enjoy wildlife from a distance.
• Keep dogs on a leash and on trails.
• If a wild animal is found that appears sick or injured, leave it alone. Call a local CPW office and talk to a trained wildlife officer for guidance.

To help communicate these important wildlife messages, CPW recently released a series of song parodies that sing about the negative effects of feeding wildlife. Use the agency’s Online Toolkit to download and share the song parodies.

The 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, according to CPW.

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For more on how to coexist with wildlife, cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/LivingwithWildlife.aspx