Holachicka & Smiles, your comments certainly raise the
blood lust 
!
I have had real trouble from those critters and others! I mean, they aren't like that sweet little Song Sparrow that just showed up on my picket fence
.
And, I don't buy this "they were here first" thinking -- except with some. We have deer at
plague population levels in some parts of the country. BIG caveat: there are some species that we have really messed up! We really must preserve their environments and not put so much pressure on them or, like the 6 species of birds that Audubon painted and which have since been forced to extinction, we will lose them for all time!
But, can anyone say that about
Rattus norvegicus or
Rattus rattus? Or, that we should tolerate Bedbugs because they have been around for 250 million years, since the beginning of the Mesozoic Era?
Just leaving insect pests aside, my gardens, at various times, have been ravaged by "wildlife." Deer once destroyed my tomato patch. Marmots (think really large groundhogs
) have eaten every last cabbage plant and dug up 100% of the sprouting corn. Voles have severely damaged or eaten ALL of the potatoes - I mean in a 25' by 50' patch! Rabbits regularly ate 20% to 60% of plantings of beans and peas!
Holachicka, if those are ground squirrels - you can
torment them enuf that they will pack up and move (or something, I don't care what). A large rock, a block of wood to drive it with, and a sledge hammer will effectively close their burrows. If they are gophers, more power to people who know how to successfully use the traps.
I pray that the Canada geese that are so often in the neighboring fields don't show up in my large veggie garden
!
Some folks are delighted to see some of these critters - and, if it is more than an appreciation for them
at a distance - we can be pretty sure that those folks are happy buying ALL of their food from a supermarket.
Steve
the slats in this darn soapbox keep coming loose!
