The Impact of Human-Provided Food on Urban Wildlife

Ever wonder how leftover cat food or spilled birdseed disappears from your backyard overnight? You know the intended recipients didn’t touch it, but something else has taken advantage of the spoils. The answer to where the food went is almost always the neighborhood wildlife. Skunk removal around Joplin, Carthage and Neosho has become an increasing problem as well as conflicts with raccoons, oppossums, armadillos and squirrels in and around homes in urban settings. Quite often the need for animal removal is the result of feeding pets on the back porch or providing other food sources such as bird feeders.

To better understand the impacts of human-provided food to wildlife, researchers at Northern Arizona University, partnered with USDA Wildlife Services biologists in Arizona, to study and quantify how often mesocarnivores, such as skunks, raccoons and domestic cats, visit food sources intended for other species. To read more about that study and see some interesting videos follow this link: http://wildlife.org/spilled-birdseed-cat-food-and-other-human-provided-foods-impact-on-urban-wildlife-2/

A skunk charging a house cat. A cat food dish was located behind the compost bin.