Silencing the Call of the Wild in Your Own Backyard
by Kay L. Hossner, D.V.M., California
courtesy of
Wild About Cats
As we all know too well, people are opportunistic. If you
own a business, do you leave the doors unlocked when you go home at
night? No, because somebody is likely to take advantage of the situation
by going in and stealing your merchandise or money. Animals are
opportunists too. Deer will be drawn to the tastiest plants within
easy reach (often our most prized flowers!) Dogs will paw through
available garbage for a choice morsel. We can't blame them, we'll take
the easy way over the hard way any day too! The problem arises however,
when animals see opportunities that we don't recognize, and then we get
angry at them for being so clever in taking advantage of us. What we
need to do is heighten our awareness of the situations where this may
occur.
Unfortunately, wild animals that have lost that wariness and
have more contacts with humans also tend to have shorter life spans.
That's because these tend to be our problem critters, and frequently are
killed or relocated. Relocation is usually a death sentence too, as most
appropriate habitat areas are already full, and dropping in one more
animal merely sets the stage for territorial fights.
How can we keep wild creatures wild? Probably the easiest
and most effective method is to remove any opportunities around our
property that are particularly attractive and easy for wildlife to take
advantage of.
For the small scale marauders -- the opossums, skunks, foxes,
mice, rats, and raccoons -- opportunity denial mostly boils down to
housekeeping. In buildings, deny entrance by stuffing cracks and holes
with steel wool (critters are unable to gnaw through it), keep
foundations, roofs, and walls in good repair, and vents and windows
screened. Don't leave doors or windows open for your pets to run in
and out. Instead, invest in a lockable swinging pet door. Feed pets
inside or, if you must feed outside, pick up the food bowls when pets
are done eating.
The exquisitely sensitive noses of those furry little bandits
are likely to pick up the merest hint of food even on a well-licked empty
bowl. No sense in inviting them around on a regular basis to see what
other mischief they can get into.
Keep garbage inside a building or in a heavy duty,
non-tippable, tightly covered garbage container that keeps odors locked
in. Bird seed, pet food, and other foodstuffs should be kept inside too,
preferably in a container with a tightly fitting lid. Leftover table
scraps should be buried 6-12 feet deep in your compost pile so that the
odors don't waft out and attract the wrong clintele.
The large predators, most particularly the mountain lion,
but also the bear, bobcat, and coyote, have been causing a lot of
concern. Good housekeeping measures outlined above are a good start
in keeping these opportunists from visiting our properly regularly,
but we need to include more extensive measures to keep out pets and
livestock safe.
Keep brush cleared a minimum of 50 feet back from the edges
of yards and livestock pastures, and keep pastures clear. Mountain
lions stalk their prey from cover of brush, and usually attack from
closer than 50 feet.
Electric fences have proven effective against predators,
including coyotes. Guard dogs (not herding dogs) such as the large Great
Pyrenees and the Hungarian Komondor, when raised with livestock and
properly trained, offer continual livestock protection.
Keep pets and livestock inside and protected from early
evening until morning. Mountain lions are most active at dusk and
dawn when their main prey, deer, are feeding, but are also active at
night. They rarely actively hunt during the day.
Make sure livestock/poultry are enclosed nightly in
predator-proof barns/pens. This will include wire fencing or
foundations that go below ground to prevent digging under, and roofs or
heavy wire tops over pens.
Pets should have access to safe quarters 24 hours a day.
This should include access to to a garage, building, or dog house
protected by a swinging pet door that a wild animal is unlikely to
figure out. Pets should not be allowed to roam in wooded/brushy areas
away from the main buildings.
By following these common-sense guidelines, you can
greatly decrease the chances that the wild critters in your neighborhood
with consider your place a convenient "fast food joint."
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