OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Republican Party is being criticized for a Facebook post comparing food-stamp recipients to feeding animals in national parks.
The message posted Monday on the party’s official Facebook page says 46 million Americans participate in the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, or SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps.
The post then says the National Park Service encourages people not to feed animals because they “will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.” The post concludes: “Thus ends today’s lesson in irony.”
Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Randy Brogdon didn’t immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.
About 604,000 people receive SNAP benefits in Oklahoma, mostly the elderly, disabled and children.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services called the post “shameful.”