David FowlerDavid Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, worries that too many people are on food stamps, and they are becoming dependent on government handouts.
His solution, posted on his personal Facebook page, is to follow the advice of the National Park Service: “Do not feed the animals.”
“Their stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves. This ends today’s lesson,” wrote Fowler, a former Republican state senator from Signal Mountain.
Similar advice has been used by conservative politicians and pundits to criticize the federal food stamp program, known officially as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have proposed reducing funding for the program, which serves about 46 million Americans.
Fowler’s remarks angered Jennifer Bailey, an outreach specialist at Community Food Advocates in Nashville, a nonprofit that helps people get food stamps and works on local problems with hunger.