30+ trips to Disney, first time I ever saw this!

[jeff_h]

Just last November my parents were golfing on the Palm golf course and had a sandwich in a bag on the golf cart seat, and while they were on the green a raccoon came out of the woods and jumped up on the cart and started munching on the sandwich. My mom walked over and started yelling and waving a club at it and it just hissed at her and kept on eating. So there are all sorts of animals in that area that are quite accustomed to being near humans!

 

[Spikester]

I had a pretzel in Epcot (from the Germany pavilion) and had a large piece left by the time I got to America, and a bird swooped in and grabbed it from me.

You can really see the ducks begging for popcorn too.

 

[scbruno]

Yes we have the same experience in Animal Kingdom with the squirrels. They seem to be use to people and don't care.

 

[jamos14]

This is a good thread to bring you out of the COVID funk. Thanks for the smiles.

 

[gharter]

agree with the others, have seen both be very brave getting food.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

When I was young, I took to feeding squirrels in my parents backyard. It started with leftover peanuts I had. Then it got to buying bags of peanuts and leaving them out for the squirrels. I sometimes got them to take it out of my hand. Stupid me. I would leave the bag of peanuts in the screened in porch and wouldn't you know it, the squirrels chewed through the screen to get to the peanuts. They are smart and relentless to getting what they want.

 

[dd316]

The food people leave in strollers must be like an all you can eat buffet to them.

DoorDash.

 

[coolbrook]

 

[noahdove]

I think I will take a rubbermaid container for our snacks just to be safe. Maybe even a flyswatter to keep them away, hopefully, from my great granddaughter.

 

[yorkieteacher]

That’s why people should never feed wild animals. It makes them have no fear of people which can be dangerous with bites, rabies etc. Plus they then learn to depend on people for their every meal instead of being independent hunters and gatherers

I actually worried about this during the closure, lol! Apparently all the wildlife was savvy enough to survive foraging on their own for 5 months, at least!

 

[jbrinkm]

This is a great thread! It is amazing that they have figured out that food is in some of those packages. I don't have a WDW story (yet?) about the animals, but once at the beach, a gull walked into our shade tent, grabbed a Cliff bar from inside of an unzipped backpack and started shaking it really hard back and forth to try to open it. I kept thinking it was one of the kids behind me popping in for a snack and turned around to help get it open and screamed. The gull took off, with the Cliff bar, of course.

My other animal story is that once in graduate school, we had the windows open during class and a squirrel ran inside of the classroom. Everyone was yelling and jumping up on the chairs and tables because it was frantically running around the floor in circles trying to figure out how to get out. Finally it got out with a little shooing using backpacks and so forth but the professor just let us go early that day because there was no coming back from that.

 

[lelew]

Yea those critters are bold at WDW that's why we try not to eat at the out door tables, I am always on guard duties trying to protect my kids food while they eat from those birds lol

 

[Catvondita]

Squirrels are not to be trusted

 

[Flamingeaux]

The geese/ducks at City Park in New Orleans are vicious if you don't feed them.

 

[ScrampShopper]

I've had squirelles go through my stroller basket a couple of times, both times in The Land stroller parking. They never got anything because I had the food in a separate zippered cooler bag that attached to the stroller, and they never even tried to get into it. Ive had birds steal fries all over Disney World, but the last time we were at WL pool area, a bird ran off with my husband's entire burger!!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

We were walking to get in line for Jungle Cruise and passed the stroller parking when I saw a squirrel pilfering through the storage under a stroller. It was digging through a plastic bag scratching at everything in the bag. I showed my husband and he tried to scare it away. That squirrel wasn’t phased by the 6’4” man stomping, hissing and trying to get it to run off. The squirrel jumped out from under the stroller with an entire bag of pistachios from the stroller. It was chewing and scratching at the bag. My husband continued to try to scare it off, but it was persistent. I can’t imagine what the family thought when they went to reach for their bag of snacks or if they thought a person stole their pistachios! We wrote a note and my husband took it back to leave on the stroller, but by the time he got back, the stroller was gone. My advice to others bringing food into the parks- a grocery bag might not be safe storage for snacks!

have seen this more than once in each of the Parks. have even seen them licking the top of sippy cups. have even seen them chewing thru soft sided coolers

 

[Jetku]

Not the best pictures as they are from my phone in 2012, but I captured a thief enjoying a candy snack from the gift shop after Space Mountain.

 

[jbrinkm]

Not the best pictures as they are from my phone in 2012, but I captured a thief enjoying a candy snack from the gift shop after Space Mountain.

Oh my gosh, these are HILARIOUS!! I'm rolling on the floor over here... It looks like it is a flying squirrel in the last pic, bookin' it out of there.

 

[BarbossasWench]

Why isn’t Disney trying to control this infestation?

 

[Accidental Disney Fan]

Why isn’t Disney trying to control this infestation?

Well for starters, it's a human created problem and probably a rabbit hole of a problem to fix. I think Disney doesn't do anything about the feral cats for this reason but when you take away an animals natural habitat they have to survive somehow.