Pets And Wildlife

Many people think that house pets and wildlife
will get on fine but that is not the case. In
fact it is the complete opposite and it is
because of this that you should take care when
looking after wildlife if you or a neighbour has
any pets. Cats and dogs are terrible when it
comes to the wildlife in your garden as they are
likely to hunt these animals for food. It is
their natural instinct to hunt birds and small
rodents but obviously this is not good for
wildlife.

For cats there are ways that you can prevent
them hunting birds or make them bad at it. When
hunting, a cat will try and be as quiet as
possible but to stop this you can fit a bell to
your cat's collar. This will warn potential
victims that the cat is coming giving them time
to get away. Other devices can stop your cat
from pouncing on a poor little animal, for
example a cat bib can stop your cat from lashing
it as it blocks the cat just as it is about to
strike. These are very affective and can save a
birds life. An obvious thing that you can do is
making sure that you cat is well fed as this can
prevent the cat from wanting to go hunting for
more food.

When placing bird tables you need to make sure
that they are away from hidden corners. The
reason for this is that if there are no hidden
corners there are no cats jumping out from
hidden places. In addition to this you need to
make sure all bird feeders are high up. The
higher the bird feeder the less likely a cat is
going to strike. With bird feeders you can get
cages that go over the bird feeders so that
potential predators cannot physically get at the
bird. In addition to this you should plant spikey
and uncomfortable bushes around the base of a
bird table or bird feeder so that a cat will not
want to go underneath one. Another thing that you
can do is keep your cat indoors at night as this
is the time that they are likely to go hunting.

To stop a dog from killing wildlife it is all
about training your dog. One of the easiest ways
to do this is with an electric collar. These are
not harmful but they do teach your dog what they
can and cannot do. When using the collar make
sure that you follow the instructions and do not
over use the collar. When walking the dog or it
is out in the garden wait for it to go and
attack the bird or other wildlife animal. Then
before then dog gets to the animal press the
button to release a short shock to the dog. This
will let the dog know that they have done
something wrong and after a few weeks of this
they will have learnt their lesson. If this does
not work although it should it is recommended
that you get a professional dog trainer to teach
your dog what's right and what's wrong. If you do
not want to use a collar you should wait for your
dog to chase something and then shout a short
sharp "NO!" and then command the dog returns to
your side; you can use a whistle if this fails.
Once the dog returns to your side reward the dog
for coming back and the dog will learn what to
do.

With dogs you can follow the same path that you
have done with cats. Adding a bell to their
collar will alarm the little animal that a
predator is coming and this will prevent harm.
As well as this you need to make sure that your
dog is getting enough exercise so that it will
not want to chase animals around. Then like cats
it is important to make sure your dog is properly
fed but in addition to this you should distact
your dog with bones and chews that will stop
them hunting.

It is extremely important that you do this
because if pets keep on hunting down wildlife
numbers will continue to decrease. This needs to
be stopped as numbers are already dangerously
low.


----------------------------------------------------
For this article to be factual Marcus Finch
needed the assistance of cheap wild bird food
suppliers http://www.gardenbird.co.uk/, they
helped him fill the article with knowledge and
make it interesting to read.


EasyPublish this article: http://submityourarticle.com/articles/easypublish.php?art_id=295009

>