Article and images by Jen Howard
Approximate read time: 3 minutes
More and more development is happening around us every day. Habitat is disappearing. This brings more and more wildlife into our yards, even our homes. In terms of our homes, it’s important that we fix those gaps that an unwelcome wild animal could squeeze into. This must be done before baby season. They know no different. They just want a home to have their wee ones or to spend winter in safety and comfort.
Never trap and relocate, it’s a death sentence. We can give you tips on how to get mom to move her family safely on her own. This year has been very un-nerving in that people are using very inhumane ways to evict wildlife. Education is key here. Glue traps, rodenticides, rat traps, leg hold traps, snares, and humane traps not used properly. Chipmunks and bats caught in glue traps which also catch snakes and birds and many other animals. This is so cruel. Skunks and raccoons etc. getting caught in rat traps and leg hold traps, and snares. They are losing limbs and even life. Improper use of a humane trap can even cause injury or death as well. Also, don’t forget, people’s cats that run free can get caught in these cruel traps and so could a curious child.
We have seen it all this summer. Rodenticides poison everything that eats that poisoned rodent. All the way up the food chain it goes. Thing is, it’s the predators that keep the balance of the rodents. That’s the way mother nature intended it to be. And it works – if we let it. Take away the predators, we will be overrun with the rodents who can carry disease. Mother nature is like a fine-tuned machine. Don’t mess with it and it works, mess with it in the wrong way and it conks out. Let the predators do their job. Their survival depends on it. If we poison their food we are killing the foxes, coyotes, wolves, owls, hawks, eagles, and songbirds. And eventually we will end up being overrun with rodents.
Mess with mother nature and things can go very wrong – for us too. Instead of spraying for spiders or mosquitoes, get a citrus mosquito plant and rub it on yourself, use natural sprays. When you spray you’re killing food. Hummingbird populations have declined 24% in the last 2 years according to the Breeding Bird Atlas, a 5-year study by many volunteers of Birds Canada. Pesticides poison the tiny insects many birds and bats eat and feed to their young, which are critical to their survival. Dragonflies eat mosquitos. I’ve welcomed many sitting on my shoulder or snapping mosquitos from around my head on a hike. STOP! Each and every life whether we like it or not is food for another. Take it away and we are starving these other beautiful creatures that make and keep that important critical balance. Migration has started; insects are what fuel these birds to carry on safely on their long dangerous journeys.
Learning how to coexist is really not that hard. Keeping garbage stored properly and clean under bird feeders. Planting native gardens and fruit trees. Keeping it safe for them is keeping it safe for us as well. Keeping that balance in this world is very important to all life. Ending the cruelty, making a better world. Together, we CAN make it work.
Jen Howard