Title: Backyard battle plan : the ultimate guide to controlling wildlife damage in your garden /
Authors: Rutledge, Cooper.
Publisher: Penguin Studio,
Year: 1998
Subjects: Garden pests Control.; Wildlife pests Control.; Mammal pests Control.; Mammal pests United States.; Wildlife pests United States.; Garden pests United States.
Abstract: This book takes a stand on the fastest-growing threat to our gardens: animal damage. Ecological imbalance and protectionist policies have produced a skyrocketing population of problem animals. Deer alone number thirty times what they did a century ago. With animal-related property losses totaling $3 billion a year, America's summer backyard--suburban and urban--is under siege. But our romanticization of wildlife, the author argues, blinds us to our need for a balance of preservation and control, even elimination. Part I of Backyard Battle Plan is a complete A-to-Z guide that defines the enemy--from beavers to problem birds and coyotes to woodchucks--and discusses the animals' habitats and the diseases they carry. Part Il is a detailed discussion of control methods from fencing to poisoning to hunting. Complete with information boxes and sidebars, this is an honest primer on an issue we dare not keep taboo.--From publisher description.
Contents: Sec. I. The enemy -- Alligators -- Bears -- Beavers -- Birds -- Bison or American buffalo and animal grazing habits -- Cats and dogs -- Cats (wild) -- Chipmunks -- Coyotes and foxes -- Deer -- Gopher and moles -- Moose -- Opossums -- Porcupines -- Rabbits -- Raccoons -- Rats and mice -- Skunks -- Squirrels -- Wolves -- Woodchucks -- Insects and invertebrates : Bugs, blights, and other blokes -- Sec. II. The battle plan -- Understanding control methods -- Poisonous plants -- Animal diseases (zoonoses) -- Animals and the law -- Solutions - better land use -- The ultimate eden - Who's in the zoo?.