Living With Wildlife and Our Part in It

"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and
better in every way."
John Muir

My friend Hoover the Chipmunk

My Feeling

I enjoy seeing and interacting with wildlife. I occasionally set out a wildlife camera to see what
wanders by on my rural property when I am not looking. Recently, I got a photograph of a
mountain lion. This area is increasingly well populated with rural homes, so it was a surprise to
see the photo of the big, beautiful cat. Over the years, neighbors occasionally would tell me they
had spotted one, but I would think it was probably a bobcat magnified by the minds eye. Then
last year, a genuine cougar was shot about 3/4 mile from here by some governmental agency after
the cat had killed a neighbor's goat. The neighbor's dog had treed it and it had a tag in its ear
indicating that this was not the first goat it had killed. The big cats get no third chance. I have
three pet goats, so I pay attention to information like this.

Cougar photographed with my wildlife camera

I was reluctant to spread the word around the neighborhood because some people are quick to kill
anything that could possibly be a problem. Traps and attractive scents are easy to come by. Some
neighbors have trained dogs and good hunting skills so visiting wildlife does not have much of a
chance if they know it is around and want to kill it. I hear stories of people around here who have
killed many bobcats. I love having wildlife around and think it is due time to rethink how we
coexist with our fellow creatures.

Bobcat. The strobe on my camera made her eyes glow

The Decline of Wildlife

One report by the World Wildlife Federation and the Zoological Society of London
indicates that vertebrate animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with
losses on track to reach 67% by 2020. http://tinyurl.com/zpwlctu)
I suppose this includes frogs and other amphibians whose presence I adore, but whose populations
are plummeting.

The tree frogs were much smaller than usual Silver Haired Bat found on the rug by my door.
going into hibernation this year.

It also includes bats that are currently being decimated by white nose syndrome, a fungal disease
that kills them during hibernation. Birds are taking a huge hit as more forests are cut and land is
"developed" or whole states are planted in poisoned crops. Fish are being nailed in poisoned
rivers and lakes, climate-warmed waters, and by over fishing in the oceans. Ocean fisheries are
on the verge of collapse. http://tinyurl.com/zmkxlbb)

Wild salmon populations have dropped but there are still some great runs of hatchery fish masking
the problem. According to Fish Without Rivers, by James Lichatowich, hatcheries are not a
viable, long-term solution to the crisis, often eventually losing their local run. Habitat restoration
is a much better bet for keeping this keystone species. A ripple effect of the decline in salmon is
the decline in the population of resident orca whales. In Alaska, Steller's sea lions have become
endangered for unknown reasons. Polar bears are starving because of climate change and the lack
of Arctic sea ice.

Move away from vertebrates and also consider declines in our spineless friends. No, not
Congress; unfortunately they are prospering. However, sea stars are declining due to some
unknown wasting disease. Coral reefs are bleaching and disappearing along with all the fish and
mollusks that depend on them.. Bees, and Monarch butterflies are poster bugs for the decline of
most insect populations. Go really small and consider the soil microbes. As one book, The
Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, says, we know more about the surface of the moon than
we know about the bottom of the ocean, and we know even less about the ecosystem under the
surface of the dirt. He goes on to say how compacted and otherwise impacted it is. Chemicals,
industrial agriculture, and "development" are killing that vital organ of our living earth.

From the microbes in the soil to the vultures poisoned by chemical-laced dead meat
http://tinyurl.com/zamt9vg)

"Hi Mr. Vulture. We're not ready yet, check again Snakes are part of the system. I like them,
tomorrow. my life complement is working on her fear of them.

Causes of the Decline in Wildlife

1.Over the top use of chemicals and toxins in everything from households to industry.
2. "Development:" What a crappy word for building too much stuff. Humans have some crazy
notion that they must groom, sterilize and otherwise change everything. Omnipresent advertising
conditions humans to think they will be lesser beings if they do not modify and sterilize
everything. Of course, money changes hands in each step: when things are cut down and
destroyed, when something new is built, when everything around is sterilized, when exotic stuff is
brought in to replace the good stuff that was destroyed, and then when all is put on a diet of
chemical poisons. The last step happens because people who evolved living in dirt and the
necessary minerals it supplies have been brainwashed into thinking a sterile, poisoned and
medicated environment is better. KaChing.
3. Similar to development is the privatization of public land. That is where corrupt politicians
sell public land at cheap prices to their cronies, and then the land get "developed." This supports
money, not life.
4. In the same vein are "exemptions" to growth management plans. They are usually
rubberstamped and end up destroying habitat suitable for wildlife.
5. Industry, making too much stuff.
6. Mining, to get materials to make too much stuff, often leaving environmental devastation in its
wake.
7. Industrial agriculture, which destroys the soil and poisons everything it touches including the
people who eat the crap they pass off as food. No, industrial agriculture is not necessary to feed
the world, that's a Monsanto myth. http://tinyurl.com/hpc698q Mom and pop farms would do
just as well, but more money would stay in communities and not as much would change hands on
the way to offshore banks.
8. Logging: only slightly different from mining.
9. Disposal of "too much stuff." 99% of the stuff we buy is disposed of within six months.
http://tinyurl.com/mt5tjsx)
10. Medications discarded or flushed down the toilet (but still active), many of which were needed
to reduce the effects of the poisoned industrial agriculture products we had eaten.
11. Climate change.
12. And, lets not forget the big one: attitude, the attitude that humans are superior to everything
and it is in our nature and morally OK to kill anything that offends us, gets in our way, or that we
imagine may be even remotely threatening. This attitude tells us that we can completely control
our environment. Forget the fact that the best and the brightest failed miserably when they tried to
create a closed, self-sustaining system in the Biosphere experiments.
http://tinyurl.com/k8ayw29)
Humans historically kill most everything around; replace it with touchy exotics; and, then kill
whatever moves in to fill in the gaps. Biosphere Earth is now failing.

Wildlife is Important to Me
I hand feed a couple of stellar jays. I spoke with one neighbor who proudly declares that he "gut
shoots" them because they steal his filbert nuts. In nature, jays are the vector for moving nuts
long distances and planting them. They are the friends of trees who cannot spread their range
because they drop their heavy, well-provisioned seeds, near their trunk. Without jays and
squirrels, the trees would overcrowd themselves and die out.
My days would be much poorer if my good friend
Xyla, pictured above, and her partner,
Lightning, did not visit every morning for a few nuts.

Not all my interactions with wildlife are positive. I trap rats in my goat barn. Goats can be messy
eaters and rat populations can explode in the presence of lots of tasty food. The coyote population
has dropped greatly so the population of cute, but destructive rabbits is increasing. Deer have not
been too much of a problem for me because there are better gardens near by. I coexist with the
rabbits and deer, but I do not encourage them. I have a fence and a motion sensor light for
protecting the goats at night. I let the birds get some of the fruit and berries I grow. I quit raising
chickens because I had neither the time nor inclination to build the necessary predator-proof night
enclosure. A weasel tore a fist-sized hole through my previous "chicken tractor" and got the last
two. I chase away raccoons when I see them and try to clean up anything that might attract them.
I swat mosquitoes and biting flies, but they are not declining in population.

Coyote photo caught on wildlife camera. Raccoon babies: cute but destructive.
My Hopes

I hope that people start looking at the big picture and understanding the incredible loss that is
taking place.
I hope the realization is enough to counter the religious and commercial brainwashing that has
taken place, falsely saying that animals are nothing but emotionless commodities to be used and
abused at the whim of humans.
I hope those who take pleasure in torturing and killing for sport awaken to the moral unease
gnawing at them because everyone, in their hearts, knows it is wrong.
I hope people who hunt to put food on the table continue with great respect for their prey.
I hope trophy hunters finally realize that monstrosity, not masculinity, comes from wanton killing.
I hope people raising livestock do so with compassion, learn to protect their charges from the few
remaining wild predators and find pride in that accomplishment instead of pride in their ability
to kill off such wonderful creatures.
I hope people learn to respect life enough that it clicks in their heads that they are killing living
creatures, even when they swat mosquitoes.
I hope that respect for life goes beyond pandas and polar bears and reaches all the way to the
bottom of the sea and to the microbes in the living dirt. We must get beyond the mental and
physical poison of industrial agriculture and chemical gardening! Even in Shakespeare's plays,
only villains used poison.
I hope people get a handle on insane over-consumption and the accumulation of stuff.
I hope people start to realize the ecological absurdity of McMansions; they are a sign of gout of
the brain, not prosperity.

Where are all the coyotes and cougars when we need them?
I feel that a life with little or no connection to wildlife creates a disconnect from the natural world.
A vital part of the human spirit becomes shrunken and malnourished. I am blessed living where I
do, but people anywhere can encourage birds and squirrels, visit parks, and work to create them if
they do not exist. My property is registered as a National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat,
and so was my backyard twelve years ago when I lived in Seattle. Even around here, I see
ominous signs everywhere: heartbreaking clearcuts, increased traffic, way more noise and even
more tension in the air. Smart phones get between people and everything they do. There is a
meanness that seems to come from switching the connection from nature to machinery, gadgets,
money and status.

The attitude that accepts the snuffing out of wildlife is the same one that is letting climate change
march in to kill our children. It is the one that accepts perpetual wars. We have to focus beyond
just the individual battles of bees, pandas and polar bears and act on the big picture. We have to
resist the nonstop propaganda from politics and the media and change our attitudes to respect the
wonders of life around us. The same attitude that will accept living with wildlife may help us
combat the ongoing, self-generated destruction of our own habitat on earth. It's a whole change in
our way of life amidst the siren voices calling "you need the money," "there's plenty of time," and
"its not really happening." Are humans up to the challenge? No sincere action to help is wasted;
they all help keep the natural system working. Respecting and enjoying wildlife, and working to
keep it around me, helps me find peace in this troubled world.

I got this Spotted Skunk photo years ago and have

not seen one since.

Here is what some writers, philosophers and scientists have said:

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and
pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."
St. Francis of Assisi

"The Animals of the planet are in desperate peril. Without free animal life I believe we will lose
the spiritual equivalent of oxygen."
Alice Walker
A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space.
He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the resta kind
of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to
our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures
and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein