Deer in Your Dahlias?
Rabbits in Your Radicchio?

Finding Humane Solutions to Conflicts with Backyard Wildlife

Learning to peacefully coexist with backyard wildlife is both a challenge and an incredible opportunity.

Dr. John Hadidian, a wildlife biologist with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in Washington, DC, is a gardener himself and knows what it feels like to have his vegetable garden trampled and his hostas chewed to nubs. "Given the choice", says Dr. Hadidian, "most people would prefer to resolve wildlife conflicts in a humane manner, but they usually have no idea what to do. It's terribly frustrating when you wind up making four or five phone calls looking for information or a sympathetic ear."

As Director of the HSUS Urban Wildlife Program, Dr. Hadidian's job is to help people better understand the habits of backyard wildlife. This information is essential if we are to find ways to peacefully coexist. The program's approach is threefold: to foster tolerance and understanding of our wild neighbors; a willingness to resolve problems without lethal means; and to develop a range of lasting solutions for coexistence.

To spread the word as quickly as possible, the program is focusing on a couple key groups. One is the gardening community. "Gardeners are much more aware of what's going on in their backyards than the average homeowner," he says. "We hope gardeners can become important advocates and educators about backyard wildlife."

Dr. Hadidian also spends time on the road, educating the service providers who field calls from frustrated gardeners and homeowners. "These are the people on the front lines," he says. "They are working with someone who is already very eager for information. Our goal is to use these service providers to get as much information about these critters as possible directly to the homeowner."

This part of the program's training targets four primary groups:

Wildlife Rehabilitators: These are people who accept injured or orphaned wildlife with the goal of returning them to the wild.

Animal Control Officers: These are people at the town or municipal level who field calls about backyard wildlife problems (as well as calls about stray dogs and cats).

State and Federal Wildlife Agencies and Cooperative Extension Agents: People in these agencies usually deal with game management and hunting issues, rather than backyard wildlife problems. Extension agents, on the other hand, spend the majority of their time problem solving with individual homeowners, and just need more training on backyard wildlife issues.

Wildlife Control Businesses: People in this fast-growing business sector usually offer a range of "critter control" services directly to homeowners.

For gardeners and homeowners, The HSUS is developing an excellent series of fact sheets about backyard critters. You can request this information from your local garden center, or find it online at: www.wildneighbors.org. You might also consider becoming a member of the Urban Wildlife Sanctuary Program. Members receive the organization's award-winning newsletter, Wild Neighbor News, and also a copy of Dr. Hadidian's book, Wild Neighbors: the Humane Approach to Living with Wildlife. You can also have your property certified as an official HSUS Urban Wildlife Sanctuary . All this and more is available on the HSUS website listed above. For species specific information, read "A Closer Look at Wildlife."

"We want to help people see these human-wildlife interactions in a larger context," says John Hadidian. "For most critters, a suburban backyard is not necessarily where they want to be living, but it's all they have. Learning to peacefully coexist with backyard wildlife is both a challenge and an incredible opportunity."