The kid is lucky he did not lose a couple of fingers.

DO NOT HAND FEED THE WILD ANIMALS!

A little kid didn’t know any better.

His parents should have.

Yet his family happily shot video as the boy got his fingers bitten by an elk in Rocky Mountain National Park.

The kid just pulls his hand away with an "OUCH!"

Count that as a lucky kid.

Did you learn anything?

Animals also carry diseases.

It turns out that not only can animals give us diseases, but we can give them what we have.

Good thing the kid's skin was not broken.

It's not just dangerous to feed the animal.

Feeding them human food can be very bad for the animal.

Their digestion and processing of human food can cause all sorts of problems for wild animals.

Doing so teaches bad habits to the animals who then start looking to the humans for food.

There was a time, a generation or so ago when feeding the animals in our parks was encouraged.

But then naturalists began to notice the problems it caused for both man and beast.

Wild animals are not like your pets at home.

Many of them can never be tamed like your cat or dog, nor should they be.

Enjoy watching them, but keep your distance.

I know that writing this article isn't going to help much.

Signs are posted all over parks.

Parks hand out literature asking visitors to stay clear and not feed the animals.

Videos and stories like this one are out there.

For some reason, people just never learn this lesson.

A raccoon in Maine was euthanized and tested for rabies after a woman brought it into a pet store for a nail trim and some customers kissed it, state wildlife authorities said.

Raccoons are one of the most common carriers of rabies in the state, and bringing the wild animal into a pet store constituted an unnecessary risk to public health.

The woman, who has not been identified by authorities, brought the raccoon into an Auburn pet store on Tuesday, the wildlife department said. She was seeking to get the animal’s nails trimmed, which is a service the store does not provide to raccoons, the department said.

Several different people handled the animal and some kissed it, the wildlife department said. The store’s manager then asked the woman to leave and contacted the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the department said. (AP NEWS).

A Field Guide To Wyoming Tourist Types

Reading The Past - Chugwater Wyoming Newspaper

These pages of the old Chugwter Wyoming newspaper show us coverage of the region from back in the 1940s.

There was little local news, other than the war.

But what was published at the time was important to the people of the area.

It was, in most case, the only news they had from outside their little ranch or town.

More From 104.7 KISS-FM