Setting Boundaries With Wildlife

Recently, an acquaintance of mine lamented to me about how his two dogs had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. To add to his troubles, his wife and daughter also tested positive. Fortunately for all concerned, the disease was caught early. How did they get Lyme disease? They were running the dogs in the local doggy park.

While it may be virtually impossible to remove all threats, they are measures that one can take. You can protect your own yard. Now I love seeing deer in the wild. It’s such a wonderful glimpse into the wildness that once prevailed. At home though, a deer repellent may need to be considered. It’s one step in helping to prevent transmission of the most common tick-borne disease in North America.

There’s also a practical point-of-view. As attractive as deer are, they can cause real damage to your gardens. It’s not just the damage. Deer-vehicle collisions offer another reason. The more deer are able to get habituated to human presence, the more at risk they are to become victims. It’s the Bambi syndrome gone bad. Deer are wild animals. They’re best chance to thrive comes from not having contact with people.

Now having said all that, while I agree in principle, there are other considerations. The repellent must be humane. The product also must be safe being as I live near a lake. In no way must the product negatively impact the lake or its inhabitants. Being a  heavily-use recreational lake, the stresses on the system are already great. A product worth consideration is Deer Off. It is EPA registered for direct use on plants.

Deer are survivors. They’ve adapted to human presence in ways no one predicted. They are beautiful, graceful animals. Seeing one in the wild is a special experience. For both our safety and peace-of-mind, setting boundaries are the best thing we can do for them.

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