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Post by gardendmpls on Jul 30, 2018 6:44:26 GMT -5
When I went to Texas around five years ago after my mom had a stroke, I saw that the wooded ranches, where we did tree population research, had become suburbs. It seems all the animals stayed and were doing rather well. Saw herds of deer that ate everything not surrounded by very tall fences. They seemed to know they were safe from hunters there. One of my friends, who lived in that area, told me that the skunks, coyotes and other animals were doing quite well.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Jul 30, 2018 11:22:50 GMT -5
gardendmpls, I think we're going to be seeing more human/animal interaction in the future, even though most of my area is already well developed. A few weeks ago I saw a male deer standing by the side of an 8 lane trunkline highway. He wasn't more than about 12 - 15 feet from the outer lane. That area does have some small wooded areas, mostly small park type breaks inbetween all the buildings. It's interesting that deer congregate in areas where hunting isn't an issue. I hadn't thought of that. I don't believe there's any hunting allowed in my area, or even this county, but I'm not sure. And I'm thankful for that, not only the hunting but the fact that the animals might integrate more into suburban areas. This county and especially the southern part is plagued by a lot of wild drivers who don't respect red lights stop signs, or even other drivers.
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 30, 2018 17:27:53 GMT -5
We had a black bear follow our car as we drove down our little lane a couple of weeks ago..
We were so busy yacking we didn't even notice. A neighbor called hubby's cell to warn us we were being followed!
With climate change we are seeing more wildlife come out of the State Forest into our village and in to the city of Santa Fe, foraging for food.The frequency has increased a lot the past 2-3 years especially.
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Post by tom 🕊 on Jul 31, 2018 11:20:37 GMT -5
We had a black bear follow our car as we drove down our little lane Someone in your neighborhood may be feeding bears. |
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 31, 2018 18:23:13 GMT -5
Not most likely, tom 🕊, The city of Santa Fe is built up against the Sangre de Cristo Mountains/ Santa Fe National Forest. Our village is up against these mountains, too. In fact, our property is 2 properties away from the Santa Fe Nat. Forest. There have been far more reporting of bears this past year, since the drought has gotten so extreme. Drought brings lack of foraging foods in the wild, for wild life. They're hungry. Out of dire need they move towards town and villages where they forage trash cans, compost piles, and any other food stuffs attractive to them. This AM was trash pick up day , so trash cans were put out last night. Every single bin, for about a half mile stretch, was turned over and rummaged freely. |
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Post by tom 🕊 on Jul 31, 2018 19:05:15 GMT -5
Every single bin, for about a half mile stretch, was turned over and rummaged freely. So your bin too? |
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Post by desertwoman on Jul 31, 2018 21:59:58 GMT -5
haha tom- nope not ours. Houses along the paved main 2 lane road get trash pick up services. We live on a dirt lane off the main road. We have to haul our trash. But as neighbors we are always alerting each other to what is going on in the neighborhood. We don't generate that much trash, (one large black plastic bag of trash every 6-8 weeks) as we recycle a lot, compost a lot, buy in bulk, no processed foods (so very little packaging), etc. The little trash we accumulate we store in a galvanized can with a strong snap on lid that is kept in a shed. Have never had a problem, though the compost pile gets rummaged through pretty regularly by who knows who. But if the scat is any indication it is coyote, bobcat and/or recently, black bear. |
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Aug 1, 2018 16:07:56 GMT -5
I learned from a neighbor a few or more decades ago that the bins in her area were scavenged by raccoon families which toured the neighborhood on garbage pickup day. I knew they were smart critters but didn't know that they could keep track of dates so that they could collect what was available once a week when garbage was set out for pickup.
Assuming that the droughts continue, communities are going to have to consider humane ways of dealing with increased levels of animal visitors before interactions become hostile, especially if the visitors are predatory and larger. A neighbor told me yesterday that some of the facebook followers in this community have reported coyote sightings.
And with increased wildlife can come the increased danger of ticks.
desertwoman, is Santa Fe making any changes in wildlife interaction policies to address the apparent increase in bear interaction (based on the number of rummaged bins)? |
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 1, 2018 16:43:01 GMT -5
SpringRain🕊️ , Santa Fe City and County have , for a long time, sedated bears that wander out of the forest. Then they return them deeper into the wild. As far as I know, that is still the policy as the numbers increase. People in this community are very mindful of animal (wild and domestic) well being. And hunters respect wild life and only hunt where appropriate and in season. Of course there are exceptions, but they are rare.
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Post by tom 🕊 on Aug 2, 2018 7:12:30 GMT -5
People in this community are very mindful of animal (wild and domestic) well being. Is it known how many bears there are getting into bins? |
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Post by desertwoman on Aug 2, 2018 9:30:26 GMT -5
Not that I know of, tom 🕊, What I do know is that it was a mama bear and her cub who came through our immediate neighborhood a couple of days ago, and rummaged though that stretch of bins on the main road. |
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