A recent post got me to thinking. While most of us are aware of some of the
hazards facing wildlife in our urban/suburban environments here's a few things
to ponder.
Mesh deer fencing can pose a hazard - I spoke with Dr. Patricia Bright at the
Virginia Wildlife Center and she told me that the center does see bird injuries
due to entanglement with this type of fencing.
This hazard can be reduced by marking the fence at regular intervals with
ribbons, cloth flags or mylar tape. Be sure to avoid fencing flyways (breaks
in vegetation or stream courses) and keep undergrowth cut down in the vicinity
of fences as this may screen the fence and reduce visibility to birds.
An even greater hazard is the black "bird mesh" often sold to protect vegetable
and berry crops in the garden. This is not only extremely hazardous to birds
but frequently causes injury to a variety of wildlife. The black mesh used for
erosion control prior to planting can have a similar effect if not removed once
plants are established.
With the increasing deer population (especially in Northern Virginia)
increasing conflict is unavoidable, and no one wants to watch expensive
landscape plants be devoured to the nub. There are a variety of alternatives
to exclusion fencing including: selection of deer resistant plants (no plant is
immune to deer browse), use of repellants and the use of low amperage electric
fencing. The electric fencing may be economically comparable to exclusion
fencing and has a lower impact on wildlife
http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00004.asp ;
Remember that a deer exclusion fence effectively removes your yard from the
habitat matrix for a wide variety of wildlife species.
Feel free to contact me with any questions regarding dealing with nuisance
wildlife
Thanks
Stephen Living
Virginia Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries
Wildlife Diversity Division
Watchable Wildlife Biologist
3909 Airline Blvd.
Chesapeake, VA 23321
cell:757.409.2725
stephen.living@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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