Bonnie Chasteen offers tips for dealing with baby wildlife as spring births are just around the corner. She cautions people to be aware of what lives around you, to avoid drawing animals close to your home and to remember that your family can get sick when handling baby wildlife.
This is basic information. Posting it on social media, in websites and in newsletters will remind some well-meaning pet owners to feed their pets indoors or let the doe find her baby bunnies and move them.
Source: Missouri Conservationist, March 2018.
To minimize conflicts avoid tempting wildlife with food, water, or cover. Fence your garden and beehives and take in pet food at night. Don’t leave out a greasy, smelly grill, and avoid keeping chickens near the woods. If you feed the birds, consider taking your feeders down from June through October, when they have plenty of native seeds, nuts, fruits, and insects to eat. This will remove temptation from raccoons, deer, bears, and other wildlife.
Chasteen also reminds us that bird strikes on windows can be minimized by adjusting the reflection. A recent article in the Washington Post, February 3, 2018 stated “annual bird deaths from crashing into windows in the United States may be as much as 10 percent of the estimated total bird population of the country. The number killed could be as high as 988 million.”
Also see: Wildlife Decision Tree, AVMA.
This decision tree serves as a guide for practices to assist them in navigating the complexities associated with treating wildlife species or their hybrids.