Environmental Outlook: Wildlife In Suburbia
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-11-06/environmental-outlook-wildlife-suburbia
In some parts of the United States, humans and animals are living in closer proximity than ever before. While this presents an opportunity for people to experience the natural world closer to home, for many, these animals are little more than a nuisance. Diane and her guests discuss backyard wildlife and how well we are managing our animal neighbors.
Guests
Jim Sterba
author of "Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds"
Daniel Ashe
director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Related Items
Read An Excerpt
Adapted from the book "Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds" by Jim Sterba. Copyright © 2012 by Jim Sterba. Published by Crown, a division of Random House, Inc.
Comments
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Our neighborhood just voted to trap a beaver family living in a nearby pond; despite proven strategies to manage any destruction via tree girding and devices that prevent flooding. North Carolina interprets the beaver as a nuisance animal, and does not allow moving beavers to other locations. Trapping beavers involves a long, suffering drowning method; and it was such a terrible thing to model for children in the neighborhood.
As someone who grew up in rural kentucky I appreciate the importance of hunting as a part of the overall management of game species population.
However, hunting alone is woefully insufficient to manage the whitetail deer population. In many counties the number of animals per square mile is three to five times the ideal population for animal health.
We are seeing animals at the problem here, when people are the problem. There are too many of us in developments that are not planned regionally, and this will become more and more of an issue as we continue to sprawl into greenlands. I used to live in Portland, Oregon, which is a notable city to look towards for planning for a sustainable future, in this case due to their Urban Growth Boundary. This plan allows for growth in certain areas, while reserving land for wildlife and farming.
From an urban area just south of Salt Lake City UT. Deer daily, and occasionally elk turn up in our neighborhoods. A neighbors decorative bushes are deformed by the deer who munch on them through most of the spring and some of the fall season. These wild critters keep us connected with the land where we live. We need to keep making accommodations to co-habit with them, accepting the inconvenience and even the danger as the price of enjoying this earth together.
I know that human beings may be injured by wild animals, but are we arrogant enough to believe that we are the species "par excellence" who can encroach upon the territory of other beings without any consequence?
We have lost our own wildness and those animals are here to help us regain that. No one who has looked into the eyes of an animal can ever forget that communion. Come on... Are "our" gardens so important that we lose our compassion for those other beings? What if we shared the land with them? It was, in fact, theirs - long before it became "ours".
I live in Mesa,AZ and have been in a neighborhood that has had a pretty fair Coyote population for years. ut in the past 11 months I have noticed a surge in the population, some of which are now abroad in the noon hour in the middle of our residential street, literally running down the center of the road.
We take precautions with protecting and monitoring our
pets and securing our trash. It's just the sensible, responsible thing to do .
Ticks and lime disease a major concern? Really?
Targeting and killing one species to sustain another is inhumane and ineffective. Nature balances itself out, even amidst the impact of humans on the environment.
If people would learn to pay attention and use their brakes, vehicle/deer encounters would be drastically reduced. The main problem is the aura of invincibility drivers assume when they get behind the wheel. As a motorcyclist who rides mostly rural roads and highways, I have to stay on full alert for deer at all times. I can't begin to recall the number of times I have seen a deer and slowed, only to have cars, trucks or SUVs go by at full speed and hit the deer. Seldom do vehicles hit deer that run out unexpectedly, most such accidents are avoidable if people would just slow down when they see a deer standing by the road or crossing the road.
I live on a small farm in rural Prince Georges county and agree that we should try to live with the animals, and trap and kill them when they eat our livestock. On the lighter side please listen to this radio interview about deer crossings http://goo.gl/DHnh1
Please comment on wildlife reintroduction to new areas. Here in SW VA, the introduction of elk, saw the protests of farmers (over maintaining open land) about the ability of these large animals to walk though traditional fencing. In Kentucky, where elk was introduced earlier, elk have grown 15% larger due to improved habitat as compared to the western states. Auto collisions in areas where the population has grown will make for a different outcome than collisions with white tail deer.
excellent observation.
Very good point and well said. It seems to me that the human species needs a check, to be reminded of our connection to nature and the extreme importance of learning how to live symbiotically with wild animals.
If people are the number one thing that has irrevocably changed the American landscape, it's on US to take responsibility for that--and to embrace solutions that don't end in animals' deaths. Killing animals because they are a "nuisance" just can't be the answer. And shame on Jim Sterba for writing an entire book about it.
The lack of balance between death and birth of the human species is the sole cause of this problem. We must educate young people WORLDWIDE in the subject of family planning as well as the serious responsibility and consequences of bringing new human lives into this planet.
Hunting, especially for game meat, is an important wildlife management tool, as I experience living and working on our small farm with pastured livestock.
Living in rural and border wilderness areas, might encourage educating tolerance of our intrusion into habitats and respect for wildlife.
Our local coyotes threaten our small ruminants and poultry, but disperse at my wolf howl! They recognize their predators, so maintaining and encouraging regional predators ought to be a priority.
Our biggest problem is human overpopulation and intrusion into wildlife habitats. When I entered high school in 1960, humans were 3 billion in number, whereas now we are 7 billion, causing all sorts of problems, in addition to, endangered species, as climate change, peak oil and gas, and many of our worst problems, aka , eg. Super Storm Sandy in NJ and NY.
We might try promoting women's rights, reproductive choice, delay in first pregnancy and larger inter-birth intervals, as well as removing tax incentives for families that are larger than 2 children.
Many species of wildlife require vast wilderness areas, as Common Loons and wolves. Such roadless areas are healthy for humans and our natural heritage.
We are in Southern Illinois, just 12 miles from downtown St Louis. We see deer , raccoons and coyotes in the back yard all the time. Even a fox occassionally. However one of you guests just said Coyotes will run away scared, they don't. I saw one just the other night walking right down the middle of the street in out neighborhood. I honked and he just stood there and looked at me!
This isn't rare.
Heather
We have created such a sterile society for ourselves that we believe we have to eliminate all sources of danger. We have to decide if we are going to live within nature or outside of it. It may sound cold and callous, but if we decide we are going to live within nature we need to quit pretending that we aren't also part of the food chain.
Joshua Klein-crow vending machine http://www.josh.is/crow-machine/
The Goal
The goal of this project is to create a device that will autonomously train crows. So far we’ve trained captive crows to deposit dropped coins they find on the ground in exchange for peanuts. The next step is to see how quickly we can get wild crows to learn the system, and then how quickly they can learn it from each other.
Once we’ve got system down for teaching coin collection we’ll move to seeing how flexibly they can learn *other* tasks, like collecting garbage, sorting through discarded electronics, or maybe even search and rescue. The crows continue to amaze us with their abilities, so who knows?
His Ted Talk, http://www.ted.com/talks/joshua_klein_on_the_intelligence_of_crows.html
Taking an intrusive animal and working with it to make changes.
The issue with wildlife in suburbia is simple. They aren't moving into our neighborhoods, we're encroaching on their habitat. Your guest today was walking a tight rope and wouldn't say that, but no valid conservationist wouldn't agree. Urban sprawl is out of control and we're building in places we shouldn't build. We've made the cost of owning a home so inexpensive and land so cheap that sprawl is rampant. No thought whatsoever is given to the consequence of building another vinyl-clad subdivision where even 5 years ago a corn field was planted or a forest existed. Add the following consequence of a road system that needs to be built to support cheap housing and then droves of traffic that commute on those roads. The tole on wildlife is horrific. I travel roads everyday that deer routinely cross. I see them and anyone who is the least alert would notice them as well and react accordingly. By citing the number of deer/auto accidents you aren't telling me about the exploding deer population, you're telling me that people aren't paying attention to their driving (most likely with cell phone in hand). Could the statistic you cited be contributed to that phenomenon? As a driver, are you saying that a deer is more intelligent than you are as a human. That's ludicrous. Yes, the deer population is out of control and Canadian geese populations are sometimes an issue, but the real issue is human encroachment. Someday a prudent politician and a prudent world will realize this and legislate accordingly. The song lyrics "paved paradise and put up a parking lot" roll through my head. We hear that song and think how stupid we would be if that were true. It's happening and I'm truly amazed that a show that I completely agree with 99% of the time didn't guide the discussion in that direction. Very disappointed that you didn't take the opportunity today side more fairly with the wildlife that cannot speak for itself. In the end, wildlife and the environment always lose.
I agree. Wildlife was here first and we need to live WITH them and not AGAINST them. Anybody can write a book about anything, too bad some people will read and believe it.