April 2014 - The Cougar Fund

What To Do Wednesday: Issue #7

April 16, 2014/in Blog, What To Do Wednesday

What to do about dangerous, wildlife “unfriendly” fencing.

Jeremy Roberts, Conservation Media

Spring is the time of year that people typically associate with “home improvement,” whether it be cleaning out their house, sprucing up their yards, or working on various other construction projects. This also makes it a good time of year to assess your property, and identify potential hazards and risks for wildlife. Fences are just one such hazard, but they can be a significant one if not maintained or properly built in the first place. This week, we’re taking a look at wildlife friendly fencing, and how and why you should build your fence with animals big and small in mind.

What To Do Wednesday: Issue #6

April 9, 2014/in Blog, What To Do Wednesday

What to do if your neighbor is feeding wildlife.

A cougar family that was relocated after preying on human-fed deer in an urban area (Photo: Jackson Hole News & Guide / courtesy photo)

They say everyone likes a little drama. While we at The Cougar Fund typically prefer to get straight to “the facts,” we have decided to delve deeper into one of the more controversial issues when it comes to wildlife. Feeding wildlife – such as putting out salt licks for ungulates or grains to attract small mammals (bird feeders aren’t a problem, so long as you hang them properly and at the right time of year) – is one such issue, and a perfect topic to discuss in our What To Do Wednesday series.

What To Do Wednesday: Issue #5

April 2, 2014/in Blog, What To Do Wednesday

What to do to keep bears out of your yard.

Photo Credit: jessleephotos.com / Defenders of Wildlife

By this point, most people will be well aware that bears are out and about again. As we highlighted in an earlier post, living with bears (and all carnivores) requires that we make a number of changes to our lifestyle and behavior in order to safely coexist. It was recently brought to our attention, however, that there is an often overlooked bear-human safety issue: lawns & gardens. Things like bird feeders, carrying bear spray when recreating, and proper trash and food storage get a lot of attention (rightly so), but it may not be particularly obvious that something as subtle as your lawn can be a major bear attractant. Hence, we believe it is worth discussing how to keep bears out of your yard.