nuisance wildlife

Just ban it all: California’s latest “fix” for invasive nutria

The state is already seeking to ban the primary mode of “dealing” with the nutria issue (trapping), and is now on a warp-speed course to remove all incentive for anyone to trap the animals in the future (via a fur usage ban). Since the state has done such a “bang-up job” of banning two primary modes of helping to control the persistent fur-bearing rodent, the only thing left to do is ban the craftily little unwanted guests themselves.

Bear management: An “unbearable” moral conundrum

While the regulated hunting and harvest of abundant black bear populations relies on conservation-minded modes to administer a selective seasonal hunt, nuisance black bears desperate for a meal or causing public safety issues are dealt with when the damage takes place - regardless of time of year or the scientific merits of removing such individuals from the landscape.

Beaver breeding season is no spring picnic!

As Spring brings “new beginnings” for the beavers, it also inevitably brings new beginnings for mankind - in the form of heightened complaint calls for roaming beavers who’ve now inconveniently “set up shop” in the wrong parts of civilization.

Chicago's raccoon distemper woes (We built the cities... Part Deux)

City officials in the Riverside neighborhood of Chicago have announced warnings of distemper outbreak in the area’s raccoon population - and the hazards posed to residents, as well as non-vaccinated pets.

We built the cities, but we don't necessarily rule them.

I’ve always been personally fascinated with the adaptability of fur bearers such as skunks and raccoons. In the aftermath of the raccoon’s “great migration” to man’s urban meccas, it’s almost hard to believe they ever inhabited the wildernesses of rural America at all - man was once a rural beast as well.