Taming of the Shrew

A male American Cardinal.

A gray squirrel.

Shrews, mice, squirrels, raccoons, deer, various birds and the list goes on regarding man vs. nature.

Many of us feed and entice various inhabitants to our yards while others formulate and execute plans to eliminate them. It's definitely the "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" topic when it comes to the plus and minus of our fir/feather covered little critters.

As humans, we can't even agree on the plus and minus of domesticated animals let alone those in the wild. The passions swing from the far left to far right. Most gardeners walk somewhere down the middle.

While we may feed, water and provide shelters for some species in our yards, we may work actively to ward off others. Most of us don't want to tame a wild animal or bird and that's good.

That cute little squirrel at your feeder can take a hunk out of your hand, tear up a perfectly good home and have been know to carry disease.

A baby raccoon is almost too cute for words but grows into an animal with such a voracious appetite it will stop at nothing for food and shelter including destroying buildings and stealing food.

Ooh and Aw over an American Cardinal standing out red against a snow covered bush but battle a huge flock of Starlings all summer and you may not be able to stand the cackling of another bird.

Touch the coat of a soft downy mouse and look into it's little sweet eyes and there are visions of little toys in Christmas stories. Have them make a nest in your home and they will chew through wood, eat anything left unprotected and leave a trail of unhealthy poo poo.

Watch a herd of deer in a field, so regal and beautiful that it's the stuff of great painters and stories of "Bambi." Have them wreak your car or eat your garden to the ground and they become less beautiful.

Watch bats reducing the number of mosquitoes on a summer night and I feel blessed but clean up an attic that has been home to bats and it's a pure nightmare.

We ARE blessed with an area of the world that houses many beautiful and beneficial birds and animals. Respecting their need to stay undomesticated is essential to both our well being.

Assisting with food, water and shelter may keep the species from leaving or becoming scarce. It entices them close enough to observe and enjoy. Teaching them to become reliant only on humans for subsistence will have the opposite result. Making pets of wild things invites trouble because they still have "wild" in their DNA. Sooner or later they will act as they were meant to act and not like domesticated pets. It isn't that they are ungrateful, they are simply being true to their instincts.

Watch them - yes. Help them - in some instances. Let them live the life they were intended - yes. Have them become your new BFF - no.