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Hoo Boy! What do you when.....

#1
Zinjanthropos Offline
......if you know someone, even if only a neighbor with whom you rarely converse but generally get along with, does something you regard as either unlawful, unethical or dangerous? 

A neighbor from down the road approached me tonight very concerned about a guy who resides next to her place. She told me that this guy is setting arsenic laced bait traps, targeting squirrels and chipmunks. Problem is he is placing them outdoors in areas close to hers. However we're not in an urban area folks. I'm talking cottage country, where we go to enjoy nature and get away from city life. 

We don't have fences. One property blends into the next, yet people here respect the invisible borders that separate us. Just so happens she also has young children and a couple dogs and is worried about the poison being accessible for them. She also is dead against the killing of wildlife. 

I'm of the opinion that we as cottagers are the squatters, we are in wildlife's territory, not ours so leave them alone. I'm not PETA, so I view this as borderline sick (IMHO). One of the animals he's trying to kill is a red squirrel which I believe is an endangered species here in Ontario. There are also trapping laws but not sure if they apply here. It's not that these animals are living in or damaging his cabin, he just wants them gone. I call it the Toronto mentality, a reference to our nearest big city, this guy's place of residence when not here and a place where some think you have to be crazy to live there.

My wife is majorly upset also. Most people here have feeders out for these critters and we enjoy watching their antics. Personally I'm willing to risk rural Armageddon by confronting the guy but people don't want any incidents, only peacefully preserve what we have now . It must be discrete, hush hush. Since they won't do it my way, the lady is going to contact the local township and humane society to check on rules and regulations. We'll go from there and plan the next move.
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#2
stryder Offline
One solution I'm sure I've heard used before went something like this. A person was using poison and a neighbour wasn't happy about it either, so they looked into Humane pest control options. I can't remember which method they went with, as there was both the option of paying a pest control company to come out and do the job or the option of supplying humane traps to their neighbour. In both cases though they actually talked to their neighbour first and just opened up the option of either paying into having the "pests" taken away humane or supplying the traps.

(I think the supplying of the traps was a way to both appear "helpful" to the neighbour while also controlling the way the animals were dealt with. There is still the problem of re-homing them, but the alternative is destroying/disposing of dead carcasses that were poisoned.)

That particular scenario however I don't think either neighbour wanted the critters, they just didn't want to have poison around their pets.

As for the ethics, indeed we tend to encroach and destroy habitat. As our Suburbs sprawl out, we take away more of the natural environment where creatures exist and this is the reason why they tend to either look like they encroach where we live or in some cases why they will actually become pests in the city. (After all no environment to retreat to or forage in and you'd be left with looking for scraps out of bins in a concrete jungle.)

Perhaps you might look into various groups that try to aid in such situations:
https://www.torontowildlifecentre.com/wh...e-hotline/
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#3
Zinjanthropos Offline
My neighbor claims that last night a chipmunk was successfully trapped. Apparently it's one of those traps used to humanely capture an animal except it's loaded with poisoned food. According to her the poor rodent squealed from 4 a.m. onwards, upsetting her 11 year old daughter to tears. Not sure if live or dead at this moment. Pretty much corresponds with the first inkling of dawn so I figure the time frame is consistent with day animals stirring to begin foraging. Unfortunately a confrontation seems inevitable so we'll see what transpires.
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#4
confused2 Offline
I'm not sure what damage squirrels do - doesn't matter. I see chipmunks can damage foundations - scary stuff for a paranoid Torontoid. I'm not sure what you mean by 'cabin' but it may well not have any actual 'foundations' to be damaged which you may know and he may not.

http://www.havahart.com/chipmunk-facts

Anyway, we can immediately see his point of view which is a great start to opening a dialog.

Dialog once opened we find out whether he's ignorant, psycho or what. If you're anything like me on the social skills front get your wife to do it.

The more people involved the better.
On the one hand you have
"Hiya neighbour - we hear you have a problem"
and on the other you have
"We all know who you are and what you are and we're watching you."
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