But I want to be an urban farmer!
Urban agriculture has experienced a boom in Pittsburgh in the past few years and the City has been very energetic in promoting it. Empowering people so that they can grow healthy food in their own back yard is an extremely positive thing! However, it comes with responsibilities on several levels, one of which concerns wildlife… Successfully growing tomatoes and kale and other flora shouldn’t turn into all-out war on the local fauna.
Increased vegetable gardening potentially means more food for wildlife, especially the leafy greens that groundhogs love. More available food means a greater carrying capacity for wildlife, therefore larger litters, higher survival rates in litters and more animals attracted in from outer areas (there are some complicated studies to back this up in the Wildlife Biology 101 section). However, it’s easy to build a groundhog-proof fence around a vegetable garden, and cut that food supply off. This method is successfully used by many of the vegetable-gardening residents who don’t use the city’s trapping services. Denying access to food sources reduces the wildlife carrying capacity of a neighborhood and thus reduces the animal population, while protecting residents’ gardens efficiently and over the long term. Compare that to constantly trapping groundhogs, with – for each trapping incident – two return trips by Animal Control, one dead animal, and an unresolved situation. Yet that is the “method” that some residents use repeatedly today…
Often, keeping an animal out of a vegetable garden can be a quick fix, and sometimes it can take some investment in work hours. For example, setting up “wobbly” fencing and laying hardware cloth around the edges of a plot is inexpensive but takes time; it is also the only effective means of keeping wildlife out over the long term.
Likewise, with chicken coops, the only way to avoid conflict with raccoons or foxes is to build the coop correctly (chicken wire is not suitable - always use hardware cloth, which raccoons can't bite through!) and keep all food sources inside and sealed to limit the attractant. Granting city coop permits should be dependent on the use of correct materials, to avoid wildlife (and neighbors) paying the price for a badly-built structure. Lastly, use your common sense, leaving chickens out to wander freely outside the coop means exposing them to risk, whether from hawks or ground-based wildlife. That is a choice, and other residents can’t be expected to fund Animal Control services when something goes wrong…
Increased vegetable gardening potentially means more food for wildlife, especially the leafy greens that groundhogs love. More available food means a greater carrying capacity for wildlife, therefore larger litters, higher survival rates in litters and more animals attracted in from outer areas (there are some complicated studies to back this up in the Wildlife Biology 101 section). However, it’s easy to build a groundhog-proof fence around a vegetable garden, and cut that food supply off. This method is successfully used by many of the vegetable-gardening residents who don’t use the city’s trapping services. Denying access to food sources reduces the wildlife carrying capacity of a neighborhood and thus reduces the animal population, while protecting residents’ gardens efficiently and over the long term. Compare that to constantly trapping groundhogs, with – for each trapping incident – two return trips by Animal Control, one dead animal, and an unresolved situation. Yet that is the “method” that some residents use repeatedly today…
Often, keeping an animal out of a vegetable garden can be a quick fix, and sometimes it can take some investment in work hours. For example, setting up “wobbly” fencing and laying hardware cloth around the edges of a plot is inexpensive but takes time; it is also the only effective means of keeping wildlife out over the long term.
Likewise, with chicken coops, the only way to avoid conflict with raccoons or foxes is to build the coop correctly (chicken wire is not suitable - always use hardware cloth, which raccoons can't bite through!) and keep all food sources inside and sealed to limit the attractant. Granting city coop permits should be dependent on the use of correct materials, to avoid wildlife (and neighbors) paying the price for a badly-built structure. Lastly, use your common sense, leaving chickens out to wander freely outside the coop means exposing them to risk, whether from hawks or ground-based wildlife. That is a choice, and other residents can’t be expected to fund Animal Control services when something goes wrong…