Wild Neighbors

Reputations versus habits

The animals that share your neighborhood are better understood than their reputations suggest. Most conflicts with them come down to food and habits, not hostility.

Raccoons are the clearest example. They leave when your yard stops paying them, and trapping and relocating them tends to backfire. Plenty of predators eat raccoons, but most of those predators are missing from your neighborhood, which is why predators do not keep their numbers down. Opossums carry the opposite problem. Their reputation has nothing to do with their character, and having one around is a good thing.

Deer raise a harder question, because feeding them feels kind. The articles here cover what wildlife biologists say about it, and why a pile of corn can do real harm to a deer in winter.

Some of what people believe about neighbors is just wrong or incomplete. A full skunk can spray five or six times in a row. Possum and opossum are both correct words, but they name different animals. Chickens, guinea fowl, and opossums get credit for tick control, and the article covers what the research actually says.

Each article below starts with the answer, then shows the sources behind it. If you have a specific animal in your yard, find it in the list.