Being a wildlife rehabber, I learned early on , that any non-essential touching or handling of the animals induces a lot of stress in them, and can actually contribute to their death. Also, it can cause issues later when they are released, and may approach humans too closely, and end up being reported as nuisance animals ! Helps me keep my hands to myself !

@evergreen Yes I got all that in my training, but for instance, one night I went out to get a koala, she was just sitting on a driveway, coudn't see, barely conscious. I couldn't get her to the wildlife hospital until morning and felt she only had hours left. There were 2 of use so I wasn't driving. We drove around to various food trees we know of just in case. I let her snuggle into me in the car, she just burried her face into my chest and held on. We set her up for the night but she died a couple of hours later. Necropsy revealed basically aids, she had never had young, was infertile and about 18 months old. I stay on the periphery of my wild life group, I get involved after bushfires because I can instinctively find animals, am trained in tracking and such. I have been rescuing animals since I was a kid and tend to stick to my instincts.
I know I am breaking the rules.

Agreed. If I'm meeting someone that I get bad vibes from, I will not shake hands or touch them at all. A simple hello is all they get (and a sideways smile) !

ha - me too ! love to handle everything in the produce section, or tools in a hardware store, squeeze the breads, squeeze stuffed animals in the toy section, and of course every curious nose in an area with live animals !

yes and smooth objects or wood, glass and much more.

yes anything like that