Yeah, I know, I tried to tell her that grown-ups don’t wear kittens on their shirts but she’s my mom so I wear it anyway.
This thread is directly involved with me getting into a long discussion with my co-workers.
Whilst reading this thread, I became aware of a conversation around me about a colleague’s groundhog problem. He wants to borrow a trap and release the critter into the nearby metropark. I reccomended that he call the park and ask if it’s ok to do so. I also had some pointed comments about how yet another co-worker feeds her groundhogs. After a freewheeling discussion they wound up starring at me as if I had 2 heads. Round one to ignorance.
It’s taking longer than we thought.
Is it OK to feed the rabbits that come into the yard?
That’s why I have a garden.
Oh, wait - I have the garden to feed ME, not the little fuckers that keep eating everything.
Time for more chicken wire.
Given your username, I wonder if there may be ulterior motives behind this apparently altruistic impulse. 
Seriously, though, ixnay on the bunny-feeding, although they’re even cuter than raccoons, aren’t they? As with other wild critters, if you like having rabbits around then the best thing you can do for them is to provide appropriate habitat for them, not bribe them into dependency and overpopulation with handouts of easy eats.
What about hummingbird feeders?
Never underestimate human stupidity.
Just after I graduated from high school, my family went to Assateague Island on vacation. Assateague Island is famous (though less so than neighboring Chincoteague) for wild ponies. There are signs everywhere on Assateague saying that the ponies are wild animals, they bite and kick, and you should not approach them.
On the beach, I saw a mother pony with a nursing baby. I kept my distance- if any wild pony is likely to bite or kick, it’s a mother with a baby. But right then, a couple sent their little kid to stand next to the mother and baby pony, so they could get a picture :smack:
I wish I knew their names- I’m sure at least one member of that family has shown up on the Darwin Awards site by now…
Dunno. Because hummingbirds tend to be much smaller and rarer in backyard habitats than wildlife such as raccoons and rabbits, most bird devotees seem to think that providing food for them is not very disruptive to their natural ecosystem. However, others argue that the effects can be noticeably disruptive (as when insects or nectivorous bats use the feeders), and that bird feeding in general encourages the spread of avian diseases.
Here’s a debate on the pros and cons of wild bird feeding in general:
If the animal is plentiful, well-known and considered a pest by many, then it is most likely successful without human intervention. Mice, rats, opossums, rabbits, raccoons, and squirrels are some animals that are notoriously good at living equally well in the wild or in a neighborhood. Yeah, some of them are cute, but they still don’t need our help to survive and will be prolific in the woods and your back yard. Because nuisance animals (and plants) are so adaptable, they don’t need our help nearly as much as the species that cannot tolerate pollution, human proximity, and major habitat changes. Keyword: opportunistic species.
I found a great source of information about helping threatened species versus making your yard home to nuisance species. This is a link to a page from the Oregon Fish and Wildlife page (.us site). Find the .gov site for your home state and type in keywords threatened or endangered species. For example, in Tennessee, the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel, Indiana and Gray bats are endangered. The black-capped chickadee, vesper sparrow, and olive-sided flycatcher are listed as species in need of management. It is easy to build or purchase some houses and feeders to make a backyard more attractive to these species, though they are just as likely to attract many different birds, bats, and squirrels. Still, worth a try.
There are a couple of authors that are fond of this subject- Barbara Kingsolver (Amazon link) has some terrific essays and a couple of works of fiction that cover the issue of opportunistic species and loss of habitat, and if you read Prodigal Summer you might find a new affection for coyotes. For hardcore non-fiction you can’t beat The Diversity of Life by Edward O Wilson. Both authors have had bestsellers and can be found in most libraries.
Whether I want to or not I’m feeding every species that can live successfully on Appalachian meadow, swamp, woods, and creek habitat including all the pest species we have been discussing. Raccoons are thriving on crayfish and frogs, though they do turn over the trash cans a few times per month. Rabbits, deer, and groundhog make it past my solar electric fence and into the vegetable garden a few times per season. Coyotes move through and clean out the small mammals a couple times each year, and I have more than enough nasty-tempered brown water snakes to share, if anyone is lacking. But I’m in the middle of the much maligned urban sprawl, and so far have managed to leave enough of the property wild so that everything here is precariously balanced. Never trapped, relocated, or killed anything yet, though I have given a couple of smart-alecky tomato-lovin’ deer a hard smack on the rump with a long stick.
I am working on returning part of the property to the wild things, and will start blogging the progress and posting photos soon. Maybe we can start a “What can we do to better help wildlife” thread with the help of CannyDan, **elelle ** and the other biologist dopers. I can use all the expert advice I can get in my attempt to help the threatened animals and avoid over-providing for the adaptable crew.
I have a bird feeder, and squirrels visit it, which I don’t mind. The other pests used to get killed by my dogs when they came into the yard, but now I have to keep the dogs penned up (long story.) My latest thought, and I’m not sure about this, so that’s why am asking, is “is it a bad idea to put up a bat box?” I hear bats are having a hard time finding roosting places now, and have been getting into attics and such, and they certainly are beneficial in eating up our state bird, the mosquito, but what about rabies and droppings and such?
I am not an expert, but I suppose that decision could be based on your comfort level. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and would most likely notice a sick animal or one that is acting in a manner inconsistent with its usual habits. I also watch the local news for reports of rabies, distember, West Nile, etc and would take measures to protect my family and pets from exposure to viral infections like removing boxes, draining the pond, etc. (Though I haven’t had to worry about infectious diseases in my area in many years) If you don’t have the time for that kind of maintainence, or have small children or outdoor pets, then the bat boxes may be a bad idea. Martins, swallows, and nighthawks might help you harvest your mosquito crop this year and boxes for both swallows and martins are easy to find online and in home improvement stores.
For the dog, animal droppings are an attractive nuisance, and she enjoys her daily stroll and roll through things which make me cringe. Just a hazard of sharing space with wild things- but other than the occasional dirty windshield, not enough droppings accumulate in one place to cause any problems for me. The concern with bird and animal droppings is much more worrisome if you have a barn or vacant building occupied by large numbers of pigeons, swallows, or some other animal that lives in a large community. You shouldn’t have a problem with single nest boxes.
Brief hijack - Beaucarnea, I apologize, but I simply cannot help myself. Should my mind’s eye be picturing gracilis, the refined and graceful one? Or pliabilis, the flexible one? Or perhaps recurvata, the sinuous and voluptuous one? Or yet another, unnamed?
Sorry, back to the topic!
Beaucarnea has it exactly right, as do a number of recent posters. Applause.
Food isn’t the only - or even necessarily the first - concern in helping animals diminished by human interference or encroachment. For any wild species there are multiple factors that keep populations in check, e.g. food; water; nesting sites; temperature extremes; sociological (population density) factors; predation; and many, many more. All have an effect, but in any defined area for any population at any single point in time, one single factor is most important in holding the population down. In ecology we use the term “critical limiting factor” to identify it.
Think of these as a hierarchy- one factor, say food, is scarce and functions harshly to limit population size through simple inability to find sufficient nourishment to sustain life. If food suddenly becomes abundant the population will rise, but only to a point where the next limiting factor becomes critical - say nesting sites. If the critter requires a large, isolated tree for nesting, then only so many nesting pairs are possible regardless of food availability. Provide more nesting sites and the population will increase yet again until perhaps predation (the adaptable foxes learned that there are now enough xxcritters as prey to be worth time and attention- food is no longer their critical limiting factor, so now the fox population grows) by fox becomes the next critical limiting factor. Wheels within wheels, and so on.
In any biologically based attempt to ‘help’ the wild creatures, this system must be taken into account. On the positive side, note that it provides the means to ‘help’ a variety of species in different ways in the same small area (like your back yard). So supplemental food might help hummingbirds in places where large, nectar bearing flowers have become scarce. And nest boxes might help cavity nesters like screech owls, kestrels, or wood ducks in places where old growth forest has been removed, taking with it trees having natural cavities. Planting native bushes and shrubs may provide cover and thus safety for small birds and mammals otherwise exposed to predation in our typically stark back yards. And more like that.
So creating a beneficial backyard habitat is more than setting out some feeders. There is science involved, but also an opportunity for some art. A simple rule - the most productive natural systems are the most diverse. And vice versa. A classic chicken and egg situation. But this makes the endeavor rather fun. How diverse a habitat can you create in your limited area? And then how many different species will you encourage and/or benefit? Try it and see!
I wish my name had such flattering provenience. I once remarked to my best friend Audrey-The-Biologist that I wish to be reincarnated as a weeping willow, as I am a former ballerina and am tall and skinny with longish hair and thought it a romantic and appropriate choice. (Wishful thinking) One appraising look later and she pronounced me “Beaucarnea” species.
(Because I have a fat butt.)
I had been avoiding revealing the reason behind my username so far, and would only do it for my new Doperhero CannyDan. Please refrain from pointing and laughing.
Back to the subject- feeders and nest boxes bring a lot of temporary fowl and fauna, but I have had the greatest luck attracting long term visitors with running or dripping water and piles of branches in the unused corners of my property.
I never point or laugh at ladies. (Learned the foolishness of such many, many sawgrass seasons ago.) So it is gracilis after all! Let us allow poor Audrey off the hook for any possible reference to the ‘flaring’ of the trunk. I choose not to believe such a base (choking on unintended pun) canard anyway.
Yes, fresh clean water and simple ‘cover’ are elements most frequently lacking in our urban, suburban, and often even our rural human environments. We tend too strongly to the monoculture called a ‘lawn’, which supports virtually zero wildlife. Let the bushes grow, let the standing dead timber remain, and keep the lawn restricted to the space actually required by one’s own life style. Even this minimal ‘enhancement’ will see tremendous returns in wildlife.
Even city dwellers can benefit. If nothing else, butterflies and other insects plus hummingbirds and some song birds will swiftly call your overgrown bushes home. Plant several species to spread out the flowering season.
Cite!
It is bad to feed the raccoons because they may get too filled to feast on the corpse of Jerry Fallwell.
Procyon lotor is a noble animal. You are no doubt thinking of Mustela frenata, or perhaps Didelphis virginiana.
I think an animal who feasts on Falwell’s corpse so humans might not need to soil themselves handling it is pretty fucking noble. 
To feast on something so evil is not noble; to dispose of it is, but to enjoy it is not.
Perhaps we argue over semantics. 
You are correct. I chose that term without proper consideration. Please substitute “dutifully chews” or “chokes down” for “feasts”.