"We've forced wildlife to become suburbanized," says Laura Simon, field director of the urban wildlife program for the Humane Society of the United States.
"They are opportunistic and adaptive. As habitats are cut down and developments move in, they've had to move closer to our homes to nest and eke out a life."
In many cities nationwide, those adapting animals include deer, raccoons, Canada geese, squirrels, skunks and rabbits - even foxes.
"The reason foxes are adapting well is that they are moving in where their food sources, such as rabbit, songbirds and the young of raccoons and opossums, are plentiful," says Jim Seward, assistant park services and program at Sandy Bottom Nature Park in Hampton, Va.
"A concern on the horizon is the invasion of suburbia by the coyote, which may make the concerns of all the other nuisance wildlife pale in comparison."
Here are some tips from the Humane Society and the National Wildlife Federation on how to peacefully co-exist with wild friends that may visit your yard:
Raccoons
What they like to eat: Mice and other creatures people dislike, raid trash cans and bird feeders and nibble on food remains from barbecue grills.
What they like to do: Raccoons raise their young in dead, hollow trees. But people often cut those down, so raccoons often look for uncapped chimneys to serve as nurseries.
What you can do: Avoid feeding raccoons or they will hang out all night, every night, expecting free handouts. If your chimney has no cap on the top and you have no raccoons in it, have a chimney expert install a cap. If you have a mother and her young in your chimney, wait for her to move them to ground level, which she will do when her young are about 6 weeks old. If you have raccoon babies in your chimney and you cap it before she gets her babies out, the mother will rip out shingles to get to them.
Rabbits
What they like to eat: Young tender plants, including veggies and perennials; clover is their favorite; plants browsed by rabbits have a clipped appearance.
What they like to do: Make baby bunnies three or four times a year. They create nests in open places, favoring tall grass.
What you can do: To protect plants, use bad-smelling repellents such as Liquid Fence (available at many local garden centers). Black netting over plants also helps protect them; it's almost-invisible look is barely noticeable in the garden.
In Colonial Williamsburg, garden historian Wesley Greene uses a granular product called Rabbit No More to protect lettuce; it and Mole No More, both non-toxic, are available at www.rodentcontrol.com/products.htmor call (402) 658-5180.
For fencing, use a 2-foot-high chicken fence supported by posts every 6 to 8 feet; make sure the bottom is either buried 6 to 8 inches deep or is staked securely to prevent rabbits from pushing underneath it.
Squirrels
What they like to eat: They can empty a bird feeder in no time and nibble on your almost-ripe tomatoes; they will also chew wires and even the gas line on your grill.
What they like to do: Build nests at the top of chimneys, only to sometimes have them fall down into those cavities; or, jump down into chimneys, thinking they are hollow trees; they can't climb out those slippery slopes.
What you can do: Cap chimneys. If a wandering squirrel gets in an uncapped chimney, go up on the roof and lower a long rope into the chimney, leaving the rest of the rope hanging off the side of the house; the squirrel will easily climb the rope and get out. Remove rope and cap chimney.
To evict a family of squirrels from an attic, use a blaring radio or put ammonia-soaked rags in the area. Strobe lights in the attic are also effective at "freaking them out," say wildlife experts. Check to make sure you have no holes in your siding or exterior trim where more squirrels can enter.
Canada Geese
What they like to eat: Grass shoots
What they like to do: Litter yards and golf courses with droppings when they land and stay on grassy areas; flock to open water for protection from predators.
What you can do: Reduce fertilizer use and supplemental water to reduce young grass shoots. Allow grass to "naturalize." Grass that's 6 inches high has fewer tender shoots, making the food more difficult for geese to find.
To keep them from loitering on grassy areas near water, establish a hedge or planting of ornamental grasses, cattails or shrubs along the edge of the water; this disrupts the clear sight line they need to have when a predator approaches them. Boulders larger than 2 feet wide and 12 inches high can be mixed between plants.
Border collies have been successful in deterring geese at golf courses, parks, airports and condos.
Groundhogs
What they like to eat: After a long winter nap, they fill up on most anything in a garden
What they like to do: These cautious animals generally fear people, but will burrow under houses, porches and other buildings.
What you can do: To keep them out of your garden, add objects that blow in the wind, including balloons and reflective Mylar tape.
The best solution is a 3-foot-high mesh or chicken-wire fence with two tricks built into it. The top above-ground part should be floppy, or staked loosely so it wobbles if the animal tries to climb over it. The bottom 12 inches should run parallel to the ground and be secured with landscaping staples as a "false bottom" to prevent digging under it.
To encourage them to move along, put urine-soaked cat litter inside burrow entrances.
Deer
What they like to eat: Plants, plants and more plants, especially tender ones like azaleas, tomatoes and perennials
What they like to do: Strip foliage and bark from plants
What you can do: Garden wisely, including using plants deer dislike: strong-smelling mint, geranium and marigolds; daffodils; toxic foxglove and nightshade species; fuzzy and prickly plants; ornamental grasses and ferns; salvias; asters; allium; and native plants.
For a list of deer-resistant plants, visit www.yorkcounty.gov/vce/progareas/hort/hortpubs.htm.
To scare them away, use motion-activated sprinklers or battery-operated stakes featuring scent lures that deliver a mild shock and teach deer to avoid certain areas of the garden.
For repellents, local gardeners and extension offices report good results with a bad-smelling product called Liquid Fence, available at garden centers.
Deer-proof fencing is the most effective method. Fencing options include plastic mesh, electrified polytape, woven wire and electric fence kits that come with a scented lure. |
