JACKSON (AP) - The Teton County Planning Commission has recommended that the county commission reject a proposal to ban local residents from feeding wildlife.

Roughly 65 people turned out to show support for both sides of the issue, which has recently come to a boiling point in areas north of town in and around Grand Teton National Park.

The pro-feeding contingency dominated the testimony Monday with nearly two dozen people speaking against the ban.

Many of those in favor of feeding wildlife said that wildlife displaced by development need help.

"I can't see punishing wildlife because we built in their migration routes and left them no other option than to stay where they are," Jackson Hole resident Jerry Burcher said.

Jackson subdivision resident Barbara Magin said feeding needs to be done responsibly, but that residents have an obligation to care for wildlife.

"I don't favor haphazard or ornamental feeding or unhealthy food, but I feel we have a moral obligation to help these animals whose plates we are sitting on," Magin said. "I loathe the fact that these animals' lives are now being threatened by people who knowingly bought land in an historic migration area and leveled acres of prime wildlife habitat."

Supporters of the ban said that the possibility of the spread of disease among concentrated herds, as well as the risk to human health and safety, make supplemental feeding unacceptable.

Jackson Hole resident Shane Moore said the threat of chronic wasting disease - an incurable, fatal brain disease in deer and elk - is looming.

"It's a real issue," he said. "By being greedy and wanting more animals, we could lose them all."

Shirley Cheramy, Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation member and part of the group sponsoring the ban, said supplemental feeding brings wildlife into areas where there are greater conflicts with humans.

Improper foods can also harm wildlife while large ungulate concentrations can attract predators, she said.

National Elk Refuge biologist Bruce Smith said there are very few wildlife biologists who will support any type of supplemental feeding.

"The best thing we can do for wildlife is provide them space and a place they can live," he said.

However, Clark Allan, who works with the Teton County attorney's office, said he worried about enforcing the feeding ban.

"This type of ordinance will create a nightmare for enforcement - neighbors spying on neighbors," Allan said. "Why would the county want to jump into this kind of quagmire when we have professionals to deal with this."

The proposed ban would have no effect on state-run feed grounds or the National Elk Refuge.

The planning commission voted 3-2 to recommend that the Teton County Commission reject the feeding ban. The proposal is scheduled to go before the county commission on April 15.