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How To Prevent And Manage Animal Intrusions In Urban Areas
Wild animals reside in urban areas either brought there with humans as pets or opportunistically following them, looking for food and shelter. These activities are a source of concern for the safety of humans and the spreading of diseases.
Homeowners are often able to prevent wildlife intrusions by preparing their homes. Proper sealing methods help to ensure that animals cannot get inside and cause damage. Visit us at https://trappingusa.com/plano/.
Educate Yourself
While many people enjoy seeing wildlife in their natural habitats, these animals can be problematic if they enter human habitats. Whether it’s raccoons rummaging through trash or bears raiding dumpsters, the coexistence of humans and wildlife in urban areas presents unique challenges. However, with the right strategies and tools, wildlife management can be accomplished while promoting peaceful coexistence. This is particularly true for waste management, where animal-proof trash cans and recycle bins can provide invaluable solutions.
Animals in urban areas generally reside there either because they are born there, brought there as pets, or opportunistically follow food and other human attractions. They can also be forced into cities by environmental factors such as altered water flow and surfaces, reduced vegetation coverage and diversity, invasive species introductions, pollution, noise, heat, and artificial light sources that disrupt wildlife behaviors.
Despite these challenges, wildlife in urban areas plays an important role in ecosystems, providing services that are not provided by their non-urban counterparts. For example, bats control insects that damage crops and irritate residents. Squirrels help maintain lawns by eating dandelion and other weed seeds that interfere with grass growth. Birds disperse flower seeds to promote ornamental gardens and trees. And while coyotes howling in the middle of the night might be unnerving, their attacks on humans are rare and usually caused by fear. Educating yourself about the wildlife in your area can help you better understand them and how to live with them.
Change Your Habitat
There is no doubt that the urban environment affects wildlife differently than the wild. For example, birds, reptiles, and insects are less likely to encounter predators in suburban areas. And the availability of food, water, and shelter in our neighborhoods can draw animals closer to people and homes, making it more difficult for them to maintain a healthy distance. While this makes the urban landscape less ideal habitat for some species, it can also provide opportunities for others.
Many of the same factors that influence animal intrusions in natural settings—such as changing weather patterns, habitat degradation and loss, human activities and conflicts, invasive plants and other animals and parasites, and pollution—also impact urban wildlife. Fortunately, cities and municipalities are increasingly working to decrease some of these impacts through best practices, outreach, and education.
Homeowners can help by preventing wildlife intrusions by keeping their yards and property free of debris, piles of brush, and other tempting nesting sites. Taking precautions to prevent the spread of disease, such as not picking up garbage that has been dropped outside, and using bungee cords on trash can lids to ensure they stay shut, can also make it more difficult for animals to gain entry to your home.
When walking in parks, stick to official trails and avoid “social” or informal paths, which can disturb animals and contaminate their habitat with invasive species, trash, diseases carried by mice, and other harmful elements. And remember, it is never safe or legal to capture or remove animals from their natural environments.
The IN-HABIT project aims to demonstrate that a shift in the way people interact with animals in urban spaces—from a perspective focused on the value of human-nonhuman animal bonds to one that is equally concerned with animals’ social and environmental needs—is not only possible but can have profound benefits for humans and nonhumans alike. To this end, we are committed to fostering and supporting efforts to translate common private visions of urban interactions with wildlife into a public perspective and engagement around the topic.
Observe The Animals
If you’re in the right place at the right time, chances are you can spot wild animals in urban areas. Whether it’s a mountain lion hunting or feral chickens and pigeons foraging on city streets, wildlife can be found everywhere from suburban lawns to downtown markets. While some animal species thrive in cities due to their flexibility, others struggle. For example, birds that rely on more general diets and aren’t picky about nesting sites often do better in cities than those that have site fidelity and are choosy with their habitat.
Other animals adapt to city life by developing cool tricks. For example, owls that aren’t able to see or hear as well in cities might sing at higher pitches so their prey can better hear them over the noise. Other animals like coyotes, deer, and raccoons use storm drains as pathways to avoid cars and people, despite being built for something else.
Urban wildlife has become commonplace, but we often ignore or forget about the important role it plays in our lives. The presence of these animals is a valuable resource for biodiversity, nature observation, and environmental monitoring. Unfortunately, we also tend to only see the possible negative impacts of these animals in our urban settings (such as car accidents, zoonotic diseases, and human-animal interactions).
Observing local wildlife can help us understand how we can better interact with them. Using apps can help you learn more about the local birds and other animals that live near you. You can also contribute to the scientific research that helps wildlife adapt to urban living by reporting your observations!
Besides observing the animals, consider getting involved with an organization that works to improve or protect wildlife in your area. There might be a conservation group, university, zoo, or garden nearby that could use your help. You can even volunteer to help with trash management or feeding programs for wildlife that can’t do it on their own. Pairing these efforts with wildlife-proof containers can create a formidable defense against animal intrusions in urban areas.
Get Help
Wildlife can become a nuisance or health threat when they enter homes, attics, basements, and crawl spaces. This influx of wildlife in urban areas can be attributed to several factors: climate change expanding species’ ranges, human development destroying natural habitats, and hunting. Animals can be brought to urban areas by people as pets, or they may opportunistically follow humans, finding food sources in garbage, compost piles, and bird feeders. They can also nest in sheds, attics, and walls, and burrow through the soil around a property.
Homeowners can take a few steps to prevent and manage these wildlife intrusions. Regularly monitoring wildlife activity through trail cameras or by enlisting the help of local experts can identify problem areas and provide valuable information for effective management strategies. Creating buffer zones between the human environment and wildlife habitat can help reduce conflict. Securing waste management systems such as trash and recycle bins with animal-proof containers can further reduce the risk of encounters with unwelcome wildlife.
While the presence of wild animals in urban areas can be a challenge, it is important to remember that they are here for a reason. Many of these species are predators of pests that damage crops, weeds that clog lawns, and forbs that interfere with ornamental plantings. Snakes are excellent rodent and rat catchers, while squirrels and birds spread the seeds of plants and trees that can improve the beauty and value of your property. If you notice signs of a wildlife infestation, it’s important to contact a professional for rapid and ethical wildlife control services as soon as possible. Otherwise, the situation is likely to worsen over time. We are a reliable and experienced resource for the safe and humane removal of unwanted animals in residential properties.