Spring Cleaning

With spring comes the tradition of spring cleaning, and your home and sanctuary are great places to roll up your sleeves and begin—with an eye out for the health and safety of your wild neighbors, of course.

Wild animals can be accidentally injured or orphaned when people trim trees, mow lawns, clean chimneys, or find them trapped or nesting indoors. But you can take a few simple precautions to prevent injuring or orphaning wildlife when you clean and make basic repairs to your house. Here are some tips on wildlife-friendly maintenance for homeowners, landscapers, and other professionals, inside and out.

Indoors

Chimneys and Vents. If you put out the welcome mat—however unwittingly—birds and mammals looking for suitable nesting or denning places will likely take you up on the invitation. From a wild animal's perspective, open chimneys and accessible dryer or stove vents are cozy, attractive accommodations for raising young. If you discover such guests, tolerating their presence is always the best option. Delay cleaning chimneys until the babies have left if at all possible.

Homeowners often want to encourage visitors to leave sooner, though. So if you must get the animals to leave, encouraging the mother to move her family herself is the most natural approach you can take—and the least likely to cause injury. To get her to move to a more hospitable location, use humane harassment methods such as placing a radio in the fireplace and turning up the volume, turning on lights, or judiciously placing rags moistened with a strong-smelling cleaner (such as ammonia) in the fireplace.

Never try to smoke any animal out of a chimney! The results can be disastrous, since young mammals—and some birds—may not be able to climb out on their own. Once you're absolutely sure the animals are gone for good, cap the chimney with an approved chimney cap or cover vents with screening to prevent further problems. Keep in mind that almost all birds are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act and cannot be killed or moved. Unless you are able to exclude birds early in the nesting process—before eggs are laid—you should tolerate their presence for a few weeks until the young have fledged.

Home and Attic. Check for animals in the attic before cleaning, and don't evict any animals without checking for young first. Again, if babies are present, waiting things out might be the best and most humane option. But since wild animals can cause damage in attics, eviction may be the more appropriate course. Professional help may be needed to identify the species involved and ensure that mothers are humanely encouraged to relocate their families—and that animals are evicted at appropriate times of the year.

Squirrels and raccoons without young can be excluded from an attic by installing a one-way door over the entryway they're using and patching it shut once the animals have left. To make sure no animals are inside before you seal entry points, loosely plug any holes you find with insulation, paper, or cloth and wait a few days. If the material is undisturbed, then it's safe to proceed. Caulk small holes, staple hardware cloth over larger ones, or make a permanent repair. Fill holes around pipes with copper wire mesh and use expanding foam on cracks along leaky windows and doors.

Outdoors

Windows. Keep birds from hitting clean windows by placing plants and other visual obstructions inside or dangling strips of Mylar® tape from the top of the glass outside the window.

Siding. Check for small gaps where animals might enter your house, such as behind appliances or anywhere pipes enter the building. Even a 1/2" x 1/4" hole or crack is big enough for an animal like a snake, rat, or mouse to squeeze through. Again, plug holes loosely with insulation, paper, or cloth and wait a few days to make sure that no animals are inside before sealing any gaps.

Lawns. Always walk over lawns before mowing to check for wildlife, especially turtles and nests of baby rabbits. Turtles may be gently moved, but nests of baby rabbits should be left alone so that the mother rabbits can find their babies when they come back to feed them. They'll be weaned and on their own in about three weeks.

Trees. Trimming branches around your house will limit access for climbing wildlife. Check all limbs for bird and squirrel nests before trimming trees. If you accidentally knock a nest out of a tree, retrieve the babies and their nest and renest them in a nearby limb. If the nest is broken, rebuild it if possible or make a replacement nest of the same shape. You can use a common household container, such as a margarine tub, strawberry basket, or plastic bottle with the top cut off—but don't use cleaning product containers. Poke holes in the bottom for drainage and line the container with natural materials like those of the original nest. Then watch for the mother to return—it's a myth that birds will reject babies touched by humans.

By following these simple steps, you'll ensure that cleaning time is relatively hassle free for you and your wild neighbors. For more tips on sprucing up around your property with wildlife in mind and living humanely with wild animals, visit www.wildneighbors.org.