“Don’t panic since the snake
has no interest in hurting you.
Pretty much the only dangerous
rattlesnake is the one you don’t
see. If you’ve already seen it,
you’re in the safe zone,” Ryan
says. “Upon your fi rst encounter
your heart will start racing,
but it’s truly a powerful and
humbling experience. If you
encounter one, just enjoy the
brief thrill and walk away when
you’re ready!”
By encouraging people to learn
and appreciate the importance
of rattlesnakes in our local
ecology, Ryan hopes to turn
public opinion in a more positive
direction.
“The relationship for a century
here in Lethbridge was that
the only good snake is a dead
snake,” he sighs. “The culture
that established this city brought
its values with it, and those
values included the persecution
of several synanthropic species.
All these species that live very
close to us are the ones that the
mainstream culture hates, and
they were our closest allies in the
past.”
Nothing reinforces that
synanthropic (wild animals living
close to, and benefi tting from,
humans in the area) relationship
more than the wildlife living
right in our urban backyards.
“The question I get asked most
often is: ‘What will the deer not
eat?’” says Lyndon Penner, a
local horticulturalist, gardening
consultant, and CBC columnist
who has heard more than his
fair share of complaints about
people’s gardens being consumed
by animals.
“Deer are learning to live
very comfortably in our cities
and it’s not their fault, as we
keep encroaching upon their
territory,” he says. “The answer
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Coyotes are highly adaptive and will eat
nearly anything from mice to berries.
“Because the world is getting smaller, we are going to have
more wildlife in the city and we need to find more ways to live
peaceably with them.”
to the question then really has become: ‘nothing’. Deer will eat everything.”
Lyndon warns against the idea that animals can be deterred by
applications of “pest-protectant” chemicals or other home remedies that
might keep them away from plants or fl owers.
“There’s a whole litany of useless recipes to repel pests, which will only
clog the pores of your plants,” Lyndon explains. “As much as I don’t want
deer eating things, I don’t want people to be cruel to them either. Sprinkling
cayenne pepper is a common tactic which doesn’t really work and can result
in worse problems by hurting the deer.”
In fact, having more critters around your backyard can actually help it
thrive.
“I’ve seen more toads in people’s gardens in the past couple of years,
which is excellent because they are great pest control,” Lyndon says. “They
are also extremely sensitive to chemicals, so if we have a healthy population
of toads and frogs, it’s an indication to me that people are more hesitant to
pick up the poison, which is great news.”
Between deer, skunks, rabbits and even coyotes, Lyndon has observed
a variety of wildlife in the city over the years. He’s also observed how
those human-animal interactions have increased over that time and
how our relationship with the animals has become skewed by inaccurate
representations within popular culture.
“People have a tendency to romanticize wildlife in the city, and there’s a
great deal of danger to that,” Lyndon explains. “Because deer are beautiful
and we like seeing them, we don’t think of them as a potential threat to our
family. For example, if someone was to report seeing a cougar or a bear in
Lethbridge, that would have a very different reaction than someone seeing
a moose in Lethbridge. If you look at the statistics, moose have killed more
people than bears, but I don’t know anyone who is afraid of a moose.”
For the fi rst time in history, there are more people living in cities than
rural areas, so more confl icts between people and animals are only
inevitable. This is a reminder that we’ve always been in their territory, not
vice versa, and the onus is on us to accommodate their behaviours and be
responsible for how our actions affect them.
“I try not to have any illusions about wildlife in the city,” Lyndon explains.
“Because the world is getting smaller, we are going to have more wildlife in
the city, and we need to fi nd more ways to live peaceably with them.”
JUL-AUG 2017
living cover