Supplementary feeding of deer, elk, and other ungulates in winter has welfare benefits but ecological risks that require careful management consideration.
Winter supplementary feeding of wild ungulates occupies a complex welfare and ecological space. Acute starvation mortality in severe winters is a genuine welfare harm that feeding can prevent. However, concentrated feeding sites create disease transmission risks, alter natural behavior and movement, and can support population levels that exceed habitat carrying capacity with downstream ecological consequences. Management approaches that use targeted, temporary feeding during severe weather events while avoiding year-round supplementation that alters natural ecology are more defensible from both welfare and conservation perspectives.