The following lines give some cheap and simple tips you can use around home, so as to avoid that wild, sometimes rare and protected, animals die by accident or fall too easily in the grasp of a cat.
House-wise
• Several hundreds of thousands of birds die each year after hitting a window bay or a veranda! The use of anticollision silhouettes helps to reduce this type of accident. No matter the shape or colour. What matters is to distribute them consistantly sot hey can be seen by the birds while they’re flying. These silhouettes can be bought in shops or you can create them yourself.
• Try not to do renovation works on your roof during the mating period (April-July). Make sure to first check that birds or little mammals didn’t find refuge in it!
•Many passerine birds, but also small noctural birds of preys, such as the Owl of Athena, fall in the exhaust duct of a hood or chimney, and die in it. To avoid this dreadful demise, ask a craftsman to set up an ad hoc protection.
• Fly paper is an environmentally friendly way to combat flying insects. However, you mustn’t put it anywhere, anyhow! Fortunately, birds (or bats) quite rarely get trapped by it. For them, it’s a deadly trap! The ones who get stuck in it usually are passerine birds. Sometimes, much bigger birds, like the Barn Owl, do. To prevent such accidents, insert the fly paper in a wire mesh proection.
Garden
• Quite a few people set feeders and nest boxes. Let’s not forget that, when poorly made or poorly set, they can lead to a high rate of predation. On the matter, mind your cat (or the ones in the neighborhood). Indeed, diverse studies suggest that the domestic cat has a geniune impact on the biodiversity. Especially when it goes wild again.
• In order to protect nestings in trees, there are anti-cat devices to settle around the trunk, about 1,5m above the ground (ou : about 1,5m high). A simple sheet of 40 to 50 cm in height can be sufficient.
• When it comes to the feeders, prefer hanging (or standing) models. If possible with a raised edge tray, This prevents the seeds from falling to the ground where the risk of predation is higher.
• Do not use plant protection products! Among others, anti-slug (or snails) granules. These can be deadly for the European hedgehog, but also for thrushes and blackbirds that poison themselves slowly… Give preference to biological control.
• As for maintenance, do not cut your hedges or trees in the spring. This will prevent you from unintentionally destroying a nest. Be very careful when mowing your lawn, as the injuries caused by brush cutters and other cutting machines are often fatal.
• Also, beware of protective nets (for fruit trees, for example) : they sometimes turn into real traps !
• Other threats are swimming pools, where sometimes small mammals, like the Red Squirell or the European Hedgehog, drown trying to get some water. Here’s a tip: get some life-lines set by professionals. These floating ramps are drilled with holes that enable the animals to grab themselves out of the water.
