Forget Building a Better Mouse Trap

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Forget Building a Better Mouse Trap

MSPCA's Living With Wildlife Campaign Promotes Lasting, Humane

Solutions to Human-Wildlife Conflict

MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON, Apr. 25 -/E-Wire/-- Got critters? The MSPCA wants to help you help uninvited furry or feathered guests out of your home or yard and keep them from coming back. The organization's new Living with Wildlife (LWW) campaign promotes lasting, humane solutions to human-wildlife conflict, and provides practical resources for homeowners, property managers, even municipalities -- anyone living too-close-for-comfort with their wild neighbors.

Resources include www.livingwithwildlife.org an in-depth Web site aimed at helping people identify, solve, and prevent conflicts with mice, raccoons, beavers, squirrels, Canada geese and a wide variety of other species common to New England. LWW staff is also available for phone consultation and hands-on assistance to individuals, organizations, and communities.

"With Massachusetts losing 40 acres of land every day to development, more and more people are finding themselves face-to-face with wild animals,' says Stephanie Hagopian, Director of the MSPCA's Living with Wildlife program. "So many people call us and say, 'I want to get this animal out of my house right now.' They don't want to hurt the animal, but they want their problem solved. People just don't know what resources are available; we want to make these resources easy to find.'

Hagopian stresses that the humane solutions to wildlife problems are also the most long-term and cost-effective ones. "If you trap an animal in your house or yard, but you don't fix the hole or remove the food or whatever it was that attracted the critter in the first place, another mouse, squirrel, raccoon or whatever will just move in to take its place,' she illustrates.

The LWW campaign emphasizes solutions ranging from simple steps people can take to deter creatures, to more complex solutions for problems such as flooding caused by beavers. Examples include:

-- Strategically placing ammonia-soaked rags to repel animals such as raccoons or skunks that may den under decks or in window wells. -- Using peppermint oil and chew-proof food containers to deter pantry- raiding mice. -- Using castor-oil based repellents and burying hardware cloth in yards and gardens to turn away tunneling moles. -- Protecting vegetation by spraying the leaves with cayenne pepper extract (note, wash leaves carefully before cooking or eating!).

For more tips and information about Living with Wildlife, visit www.livingwithwildlife.org or call (617)989-1505.

Barbara Castleman,(617)541-5060, [REDACTED-EMAIL]

or Judith O''Gara,(508)376-5980, [REDACTED-EMAIL]

http://www.livingwithwildlife.org

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