Crossing Paths

Coworkers brought to my attention a wonderful, easy to read monthly newsletter from the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Crossing Paths. This month’s edition features the best article I’ve ever read on why it’s important to keep your leaves, not throw them away. Other articles feature how to properly interact with local wildlife. As I often say, they were here first…

As a longtime government employee I’ve taken all manner of calls about wildlife, and in many cases people either 1) lack an understanding of how to coexist with our local animals, or 2) don’t understand normal wildlife behavior. There is no, and never will be, a zone for wild animals only and a zone for people only. It will never be safe for your cat to let them roam freely outside and it will never be safe for birds, bats, and others that your cat roams freely outside. We’re all part of the same ecosystem.

Wild animals are not alien invaders; they’ve lived here for thousands of years. Our sprawl and insistence upon sterilizing our neighborhoods and having perfectly green lawns with minimal trees to drop leaves on them is pushing some of them to extremes. This newsletter’s a wonderful opportunity to get to know our furry, feathered, and finned neighbors– it’s definitely worth signing up for.

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©2014 H. Hiatt/wildninjablog.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninjablog.com.