At another level, limit wildlife access to edible plants in your garden. This can be accomplished with fencing that is appropriate for particular pests: high for deer, lower and underground for several smaller raiders, including gophers. Lining the bottom of garden beds with wire mesh or installing gopher baskets can be successful in discouraging gophers. These materials are available in garden centers or on the Internet (see, for example, the website for Gophers Limited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n A more\naggressive approach to limiting access to plants is trapping. Some traps are\ndesigned to kill, and others are designed to detain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many\ngardeners are ready and willing to dispatch certain rodent pests, including\nmice, rats and gophers. Gardeners often regard other rodent pests (squirrels,\nchipmunks, and porcupines and rodent-related rabbits) as cute and seem them as\ncandidates for release to \u201csomewhere else.\u201d We also would prefer to relocate\nsome other four-legged vertebrate pests, notably raccoons and opossums. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some people think\ntrapping and relocating a trapped animal pest into nature would be illegal. Our\nsearch of federal, state and local government codes revealed a humane\nrequirement to free an animal from a trap within a day\u2019s time, but did not\ndiscover a prohibition against relocation. A ban against relocation appears to\nbe an urban myth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, both\nthe Audubon Society and the Humane Society argue that relocation is not a\nsolution to problems with garden pests. Pointing to the territorial habits of\nwildlife, these groups advise that relocating an animal (a) simply invites\nanother animal to move in its territory, (b) requires the relocated animal to\nfight the owner the new territory (this could be fatal for a juvenile, or a\nmother of young animals), or (c) possibly exports disease into the new\nterritory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These groups\nbasically dislike trapping, and recommend either not attracting wildlife into\ngardens, or discouraging them with fencing, as suggested above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\nstrategy for dealing with these pests involves using organic fragrances or\ntastes that animals dislike. We invite interested readers to seek ideas along\nthese lines on the Internet (search for \u201canimal\nrepellents\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, there\nare various non-lethal strategies that one might explore, including filling gopher\ntunnels with water or low levels of carbon dioxide, electrifying fences, making\naudible or inaudible noises, and other ideas. New ideas pop up often but can be\nexpensive, time-consuming, and of questionable effectiveness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The final animal\ncontrol strategy we will mention is the use of poisons. Don\u2019t use them! Poisons\ncan harm pets and children, providing enough reason to avoid them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides, we\nshould treat humanely the animals that share our gardens, even when they eat\nour plants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gardening friends have commented on this season\u2019s unusual uptick in pesky four-legged vertebrates, inspiring this column\u2019s exploration of ways to protect our gardens from these pests. Our reference to \u201cfour-legged vertebrates\u201d narrows the discussion, leaving out the \u201ctwo-legged\u201d varieties: unauthorized … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/ongardening.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Bottas_Pocket_Gopher_Thomomys_bottae.jpg?fit=584%2C486\")
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