Our wild hearts: how deepening our bond with other animals can transform our lives--and save theirs9/23/2023 ![]() ![]() When I do intervene, it is after carefully considering the potential reasons for the animal's situation, the species' population status and the potential harm my actions might inflict upon the whole population-not just on one adorable creature. It also can easily harm the creature you want to help.īased on my experience as a scientist and university teacher, I've developed guidelines for when to get involved in the lives of animals I encounter outside. Ultimately, that may be better for the population and species than if I had intervened.Īs a wildlife biologist, I know that relocating animals can be bad from a scientific perspective. ![]() Either way, natural selection helped ensure that these birds and their genes were unlikely to survive. Their exposed nest site may have been a bad parental decision, or perhaps the chicks' begging called too much attention. For killdeer, parking pads and roofs give off all the vibes of a great nesting site-except for the drains-and they have less natural habitat available these days.īut I didn't intervene with the towhees. I moved the killdeer to safety because it had fallen into what we call an "ecological trap." Humans create these traps when we degrade habitat that looks suitable to animals. And I've watched an eastern chipmunk prey on a nest of towhee chicks. I've already rescued a baby killdeer-a shorebird that nests in parking lots-that ran off the road and got stuck in a grate. In central Pennsylvania, where I live, last year's hatchling painted turtles have overwintered in their nests and emerged looking like tiny helpless snacks for raccoons and ravens.
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