8 Lifestyle Tips to Help You Coexist with Wildlife
To coexist with wildlife means to share a common habitat with mutual respect for one another. Far too often homeowners think the best option for dealing with wildlife is through eradicating their presence. However, there are many peaceful ways to coexist with wildlife. Take a look at some of the ways both you and your neighborhood critters can live peacefully on the same tract of land.
Use Animal-Proof Garbage Cans
Not surprisingly, raccoons and the like are drawn to garbage cans like moths to a flame. The tasty smells of your kitchen garbage are more than they can resist. For this reason, it’s important to animal-proof your garbage cans. The key is to purchase garbage cans with pre-fabricated locking lids or use clever hacks to secure lids. One such hack includes using bungee cords to secure lids. Either way, animal-proofing your garbage cans will not only ward off wildlife, but it will save you the trouble of dealing with big messes in your yard.
Lock Pet Doors Overnight
If your home is outfitted with pet doors that give your cats and dogs the freedom to come and go, you’ll want to make sure to secure them overnight. Just as your pets can come and go through these convenient doors, so too can unwanted wildlife. While it’s uncommon for wildlife to find their way into your home during the hubbub of daylight, when the sun sets, animals come out to play. As such, be sure to lock or block these pet doors to avoid unwanted guests.
Protect Your Gardens
One of the many things that will attract wildlife to your yard is your thriving garden. Whether you’re growing fruits and vegetables or you have beautiful flower bushes and beds, these are incredibly appetizing prospects for wildlife. Deer are especially drawn to your tasty flowers. A surefire way to keep them away from your landscaping is to thoughtfully place a deer feeder in an area removed from your gardens and plant beds.
Use Chimney Caps
Nothing is more frightening than discovering an unwanted animal in your home. One of the many cunning ways that animals make it into your home is through the chimney. Thankfully, there are clever businesses that have crafted a method to impede animals from entering your home through the chimney. Chimney caps are a great way to keep animals, debris, and weather out of your fireplace and home.
Clear Dense Ground Coverings
Small animals such as bunnies, mice, and chipmunks love to make their nests in dense ground coverings. By keeping your lawn clear of leaves, needles, and other brushes, you can avoid the open invitation for these small animals to make their homes in your yard. It’s important to keep your hard clear of dense brush all year long otherwise, you may be surprised to find furry little creatures during your spring cleanup.
Avoid Wildlife Traps
Although it’s tempting to use wildlife traps to catch and relocate pesky critters, simply, there’s nowhere else for wildlife to go. Unfortunately, you, like most Americans, have built your home in their home; relocating animals only burdens your neighbors with the problem. Wildlife traps do not promote coexistence and therefore should be avoided.
Provide Safe Enclosures for Children & Pets
If you’re living in an area rife with wildlife, you must provide safe enclosures for children and pets. No matter how cute neighboring wildlife may be, such animals carry diseases, can bite, and hurt you. Providing your children and domestic pets with a fenced-in area for them to play freely will protect them from dangerous wildlife. Likewise, always maintaining a watchful eye over pets and children allows you to protect them from potential wildlife encounters.
Avoid Lawn Care Chemicals
Not only can dangerous lawn care be dangerous to you, your children, and vegetation, but it can also be deadly to wildlife. Pesticides, fertilizers, and the like are especially dangerous to birds, fish, bees, and other animals which can disrupt the food chain. Using safe lawn care chemicals should be a top consideration for peaceful coexistence with wildlife.
Conclusion
It’s important to peacefully handle wildlife when it encroaches on your land. Unfortunately, wildlife is running out of places to make their homes. By incorporating the above-suggested methods into your routine, it’s possible to peacefully coexist with local wildlife.
