These babies are adorable, but they have gotten some ouchies from a source you may never have thought of!
From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center
We would like to remind homeowners to avoid using fertilizers! If you must use fertilizer, please water it into the soil to prevent causing chemical burns to wildlife.
Every year we receive screech owl fledglings into our care because of chemical burns to their feet. This is a very painful experience for young animals to endure. Without understanding what to do, they remain in place, allowing the burns to keep causing damage, sometimes down to the bone.
Just because something is safe to us doesn’t mean the same for our animal friends. Always be mindful of what chemicals you are using and where they may end up!
I don’t get the fascination with grass lawns. I’d much rather have some cool plants. Also raking leaves is a crappy chore, and the bugs (like fireflies) need them as nest material for the winter.
I live in a HOA community, and they treat the lawn a few times a year and it always made me nervous they were going to burn my dogs’ feet and belly, and ears. I had Basset Hounds, so just about every part of them touched the ground. Thankfully they never were, but I don’t know what is in that stuff. Plus, I like the bugs, as longs as the majority of them stay outside. I have a lot of cool spider friends, and we also live near water, so I want the dragonflies to be safe and happy as well.
All this stuff, the plants, the dead leaves, the bugs, they’re here for a reason, and we should let them do their thing. They’ve had millions of years to learn their jobs, and the way we treat things as a species, we’re total noobs, so we should sit back and learn some things from nature.