As urban landscapes grow and change, wildlife living alongside us face countless issues and increased pressures. Habitat fragmentation, competition for food and resources, smaller home ranges, climate change, and artificial sounds and lights are just a few of the challenges they face. Amazingly, we’ve seen many species adapt to these circumstances and learn to live in our urban environments. However, they can’t do it alone and still need help.

From my own experience working in wildlife rehabilitation—providing animal care and medical treatment—I’ve seen thousands of distressed animals with issues that wildlife can’t adapt well to, many of which are caused by humans. The organisation I work with receives injured wildlife from dog and cat attacks, car strikes, fishing line entanglement, oil contamination from both natural seeps and human-caused spills, and much more.

Yet, despite the impact we might have on our local species, one thing is certain: people care about wildlife. With that in mind, we can all work to live better with our wild neighbours.

Traditional attitudes

Living around wildlife isn’t new to many people. As the human population has burgeoned, cities have expanded to meet our demands. Urban sprawl changes natural habitats, leaving massively altered spaces for previous wild tenants. While some animals find this challenging, others stay and adapt to a new life around people. Many animals, such as squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and gulls, have done this. Some animals do this so well that there are now distinct differences between urban wildlife and their more rural counterparts.

Many of these species who make urban spaces their home are often not held in the best light and are considered nuisances. Bunnies eat garden plants, raccoons and opossums rummage through trash, and gulls steal food, making them appear unsavoury in many circumstances. In reality, our wild neighbours are only trying to eat a good meal, find a warm space, and stay safe. Unfortunately, as they are unwanted, people try to eliminate them.

This response isn’t helped by the fact that much of the previous work that has gone into wildlife coexistence has been rather broad and disjointed. One popular avenue focuses on human-wildlife conflict to foster coexistence. This has led to work to deter larger, more popular species—animals such as coyotes, bears, and mountain lions.

While it is important to know how to live around these animals, focusing on approaches that emphasise avoidance tends to result in separation between humans and wildlife, rather than full coexistence. Research shows that a one-dimensional approach is often insufficient to support and maintain coexistence, and there are additional archetypes of coexistence that should be utilised as well.

Rethinking coexistence

To better facilitate coexistence, one such archetype focuses on mutual benefits and coadaptation. This relies on fostering an equal relationship with wildlife by helping them survive and receiving services in return, such as with opossums who help “clean up” carrion and control diseases such as rabies and Lyme disease by eating ticks.

This model of coexistence further highlights that while animals learn to adapt to live in our changing environment, we can adapt to their presence as well. This is important to consider because humans and animals living in a space together will have some influence on how the other behaves. By thinking of humans as equal actors with wildlife in these relationships, we can hopefully change perspectives from animals invading our space, to animals being our neighbours; after all, many animals were already in these places before we were.

Luckily, we can work on this in our own lives. While this may be newer in actual practice, many people are likely open to finding new ways to share our urban spaces. This can be highlighted through the success and support given to many wildlife rehabilitation centres, as people don’t want wildlife to die or go away, but may not know how to coexist.

Another concept that can help promote wildlife coexistence is through understanding the behaviour of wildlife around us. This is often an overlooked part when looking for advice on how to act around wildlife. Human activity can greatly influence wild animals and drive them to change their behaviour over time; they may switch to nocturnal sleeping patterns, become bolder around humans, or have more immediate effects like losing a meal or abandoning their young. It is important to remember that for many animals seeing something big and loud like a human can be very threatening and scary. Taking time to learn some basic wildlife behaviours can help inform future human-wildlife encounters.

Solutions

While we might not be able to stop our influence on wildlife altogether, there are things we can be mindful of to coexist with them in an urban space. With a little effort, we can change how we think about many of the wild animals that live around us and create mutually safe environments.

Human activity can greatly stress wildlife. One way to decrease our impact on wildlife is to give them space. While seeing wildlife can be exciting, our presence can be frightening to some animals. For example, shorebirds that live and nest on beaches, such as snowy plovers, will abandon their nest if humans get too close during a beach trip. It’s always a good idea to maintain a distance of 100 feet or more if possible.

Another common problem that wildlife encounter is finding a safe green space. We can help by understanding how different aspects of a yard may encourage or discourage the presence of wildlife. Food from bird feeders, sources of water, and dense foliage can all provide good and safe spots for wildlife to visit or live. You can also focus on native plants in your area, which are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. Providing these spots can help provide much-needed natural space for many species in an urban environment and can often be done in a way that keeps animals safe, as well as you and your family.

But it’s important to understand that all kinds of wildlife could show up, and not only specific animals you may want to attract. However, you can pair creating suitable habitat for animals with renovating aspects of your home that aren’t ideal for an animal to live in (such as a crawl space or a shed) by exclusion fencing or removing clutter. This lets both you and wildlife have a positive place to live together.

Ultimately, the best thing we can do for wildlife is protect natural habitats native to where we live. You can be a good neighbour to local wildlife by volunteering with groups in your area to protect green spaces and create habitats that are wildlife-friendly. These may be conservation groups that restore the environment or help wildlife in a local rehabilitation centre. By taking action yourself and sharing this information with others, we can all help to coexist with our wild neighbours.

Further Reading

Bruce, S. 2022. National Audubon Society. How to know if a shorebird is being disturbed. https://ct.audubon.org/news/how-know-if-shorebird-being-disturbed. Accessed on October 26, 2024.

Carter, N. H. and J. D. C. Linnell. 2023. Building a resilient coexistence with wildlife in a more crowded world. PNAS Nexus 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad030.

Gao, Y. and S. G. Clark. 2023. An interdisciplinary conception of human-wildlife coexistence. Journal for Nature Conservation 73: 126370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2023.126370.