Wildlife Living Amongst Us
How to Help, Instead of Being Afraid
All over the country and probably the world, wildlife is moving into cities, living amongst the humans who took away their land. The animals are being cautious, but are not anymore as afraid as they used to be. Now it’s our turn to be cautious, but not afraid. How do we do that?
What Causes Fear?
Fear is caused by stories of actions that either took people’s lives or maimed them for the rest of their life . . . accompanied by the implied threat that “it could happen to you.” The news and threats come from parents, friends, schools, the government, the media (including advertising). Threats are often used to manipulate people into doing what somebody else wants them to do. The threat of ill health is what drives medications and health insurance, for example, both of which have become must-haves for most humans.
Threat-Based Violence vs Acceptance of Predators
Back in the day, the threat and fear of retaliation is what drove settlers into killing Native Americans and their food sources (e.g. buffalo). The threat of losing their entire livelihood drove the civil war and later massacres against former slaves. The threat and fear of predators killing either humans or livestock drove the near extinction of both wolves and coyotes. Today we still face fears, including the fear of predators, only now many of those predators live among us. Is it necessary to still be afraid?
In my area of Southern California, we have seen coyotes, bears, mountain lions, and cougars walking through our streets in the last few years. Coyotes come often—though the others only seldom—and most of us are not afraid of them. A very few people talk excitedly about pulling out guns and shooting them on the street (which is illegal), while others get their cameras ready to photograph them, and yet others do the intelligent thing and bring their small pets inside.
Most people are accepting of wildlife, appreciating that humans took most of their habitat away, and loving the idea that we could live side by side with wildlife in the city. Which we can. The less afraid and more accepting we can be, the easier it will be to live companionably.
Combatting the Fear of Predators
How do we combat the fear? We learn about wildlife, especially the predators we’re most afraid of. We talk to them. We watch and photograph them. In some cases we even feed them. We note that it’s not just predators living here, but their food does too. Which brings up the biggest fear of all, that we or our children or pets will become a food source for predators when they run out of their normal food.
“If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys.” — Chief Dan George
I disagree with the notion that we should not feed wildlife. Those predators don’t normally like to live among humans. It’s too noisy and too crowded. They would much rather live in the hills where it’s more peaceful and where they can hear and chase their prey without being run over by cars. So when they come down to where humans live, it’s because their food source in the hills has dried up — either from drought, wildfires, or other predators (like humans) taking too much for themselves — and now they’re starving.
Feeding Wildlife in a Wildlife Park
The solution is obvious. If predators are coming down here looking for food, we should feed them. For the animals and for people who are too uncomfortable with predators too close, we could encourage our cities to set aside a parcel of land to cultivate for wildlife — especially land with access to mountains (and which should include a water source). This could be foothills, an old golf course, or a huge park. London has over 1,750 such wildlife spots, per this Huffington Post article. Chicago developed their own Wild Mile sanctuary in an industrial area.
A wildlife community group could team up with local schools to plant (and cultivate) trees, berry bushes, open hives, and food sources for smaller prey. Because predators like to shelter and raise their young in cave-like spaces (like culverts and downed trees) those could be installed. Pathways could be set up, so humans could hike there too and learn about wildlife.
Predators establish territories. If a few bears or coyotes were to claim that land, they would prevent more predators from coming through to the human habitation, thereby actually protecting local neighborhoods. Humans could continue to live their noisy lives beneath or beside the quiet wildlife sanctuary, and predators would still have the mountains to retreat to when food is available there again.
Helping Wildlife Thrive in our Neighborhoods
If there is no such project in the works, or we don’t want to wait for such a project to be established, we could do whatever we can in our own neighborhoods to help wildlife live locally. If we don’t want predators eating our pets we should keep our pets inside, and encourage the survival of their natural food.
- Instead of putting out poison for rats or gophers, let the coyotes hunt and eat them. The rat living in my attic is gone now, and so are the gophers that were digging in my back lawn.
- We could make compost piles available to any critter who wants it. I’ve had skunks, raccoons, possums, lizards, and squirrels eating mine, in addition to coyotes — which eat a wide variety of food.
- To help the small critters breed more, whose young then become predator food, let your crawl spaces be open just enough for them to use as a den. There’s a raccoon living under my bedroom right now, and squirrels live in our trees and attics.
- Black bears primarily eat fruit. Try planting fruit trees or throwing out cantaloupe skins when you’ve finished with them. Toss out any old fruit that’s going moldy.
- If you don’t want predators in your trash, rinse off any containers you throw away, so there’s no smell left. That worked with the black bear that (rarely) comes around my neighborhood.
Sanctuary or Neighborhood Support vs Our Own Humanity
The sanctuary endeavor would be time-consuming and expensive (at first), would prevent humans from spreading further (probably a good thing), and would cost a lot to water the plants until they’re established. But the gift of that plus neighborhood support—allowing wildlife to live right around us in our own neighborhoods could be priceless to wildlife and us. Not only would it help us learn about and not fear wildlife, but it would also be a way for humans to pay back wildlife for the hundreds of thousands of acres of land that we originally took from them. And it would remind us, in the long term, of our own humanity.
