how far out of your way do you go to help wild animals each day on average?
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I walk my dog 4km every morning and scare the shit out of about 40 bunnies, 1 or 2 skunks, occasionally a fox or 2, and perhaps once a year we get scared shitless by a bear.
Since I don't go out of my way to do so, the correct answer is, "never."
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
I started working at a wild animal rehab this year. I've fed a few hundred squirrels, dozens of song birds, some really cool raptors, and a good handful of mammals.
I consider my time with them positive, but they really don't want much to do with us. I just released an owl this weekend and it bit me multiple times as I was trying to let it go. That's the attitude it takes for it to survive, so getting a positive attitude back is typically not an outcome I should, or realistically want to see.
The person being hostile in this thread is going pretty extreme. We shouldn't be touching or feeding animals directly, but many do need indirect human presence to survive. They evolved with us to an extent, and they take advantage of our food storage and waste and some of the molding of the environment that we do by creating fields and farmland.
Most animal injuries I see are from cars, pets, manmade structures, and cutting down trees animals live in. What people are feeding the birds is likely a very small portion of their diet, as they eat pretty constantly. Keep your bird and squirrel stations clean and provide shelter from predators and you likely aren't hurting anything in the grand scheme of things. A loose dog or cat is way worse IMO.
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
I always walk past pigeons with some extra distance to make them feel safe. Or any animal, it's just that I encounter pigeons the most.
I rescued a bird that was unable to fly and I would do so again. But now I know that my local shelter will accept them and I will not attempt to foster them myself again.
**Please don't just grab wild birds (or any animal for that matter) off the street but take some time to observe them first. If they struggle to fly/walk, look like they're under weight, cold or have visible injuries, then catching them is usually warranted.
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
Not much, there arent many wild animals around on my typical day.
I have a spider in the corner of my bathroom that I leave alone.
I watch squirrels in the front yard, they need nothing from me.
The front yard is riddled with moles and dying grass. I live in a condo that is responsible for yard care and they aren't doing much about the moles. I don't especially like large, green grass yards so I don't care if they're letting the moles destroy it all. Letting them do their thing.
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
I was on a walk and saw a beetle on its back. I turned the beetle around so that it could carry on.
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@11111one11111 enters the comments and behaves like an AI gone rogueWhat were they saying? I missed it
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
We have a parking garage with a few windows in its corners (fucking incompetent design) and birds will often get confused / trapped by the windows.
I will ALWAYS stop and help get them out but sliding a folder / book under them and moving them to an opening.
What’s interesting is that the birds always allow me to help. Perhaps it’s because they’re just exhausted, or perhaps they really understand that I’m trying to help them. I do not know.
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We have a parking garage with a few windows in its corners (fucking incompetent design) and birds will often get confused / trapped by the windows.
I will ALWAYS stop and help get them out but sliding a folder / book under them and moving them to an opening.
What’s interesting is that the birds always allow me to help. Perhaps it’s because they’re just exhausted, or perhaps they really understand that I’m trying to help them. I do not know.
Them being compliant is a defensive behavior called freezing. If they get hurt fighting you, they won't be able to escape, so they're waiting to see what you are going to do before they decide if fighting is worth the risk.
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
On average I don't really need to go far out my way, because it's mostly insects or spiders. I just catch the bees and release them outside, not far of their hive, don't use something because a spider live here or help some thing trapped somewhere stupid.
One day my partner and I did 30km for an injured bat, because there was nobody closer who could take and heal her. I saw the birds the organization took in (for healing/helping) the same day, and you don't often have a chance to see a baby owl in real life!
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
My dad likes to feed wild racoons and I help him with that. He puts some dog food and a couple other things out for them and they come up every night to get some and hang out for a bit before returning home
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
Do my bird feeders count? Does my garden built with biodiversity and creating small pockets for criters and bugs count?
Not using pesticides and trying to use organic products to manage my gardens.
If those count, then 100% daily through active and passive means.
Our yard has bunnies, wild birds, assorted pollinators, squirrels and even an opossum living under our bay window. All of this on 1/2 acre in the suburbs. Planting perrenials is fun.
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What if you ruined their tan!
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
Does this count? My wife feeding the Kudu. They get a bucket or so a day of pellets and a bale or two, especially in winter. We have kudu, impala, zebra, etc (even the odd giraffe) passing by most days. And bananas and peanut butter for the bush babies at night.
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Them being compliant is a defensive behavior called freezing. If they get hurt fighting you, they won't be able to escape, so they're waiting to see what you are going to do before they decide if fighting is worth the risk.
Exactly like me in the biker bar.
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Exactly like me in the biker bar.
You've got the idea!
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
I feed anything I come across. I helped a tortoise into the trees a few days ago. Second time I've seen him. We have frogs lately after it rains. Cute little guys. I love animals and wish I encountered more every day.
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
Specifically avoiding running into the wildlife when driving, mostly to protect the car but I suppose it does help the wildlife
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'help' can include 'interacting positively with' and anything else done specifically for their benefit.
My wife and have extensive flower beds on our property. My very first job as a teenager was in a nursery/garden center and did a lot of landscaping and landscaping design back then. So we have something flowering through out the entire growing season for the pollinators.
Here is one of the more interesting pollinators we have:
