NOW is baby critter season. When you are out, and about, encounters are likely. Many of the baby critters are cute. Baby ducklings, fawns, songbirds, bunnies and more are finding their legs in their new world.
The last thing these baby critters need is some human playing with them or trying to make them a pet. You may be able to protect and shelter the infant animal, but it will never survive back in the wild.
For many mother animals, the scent of humans means fear and death. Touching the babies will cause them to become shunned and left on their own. Nature is cruel but that is why there is an annual surplus of wildlife. The surplus becomes food for others. We hunt in the Fall when there is a surplus prior to Winter. The harsh seasons mean death when there is no food to survive. This die off becomes wasted.
Nature’s truth and reality are harsh. Survival of the fittest is what creates strong survivors for the next generations. Any baby critter that is sick, slow, small, weak, or careless becomes nutrition for other predators. The Strongest Survive!
The list of predators is long and deadly. Eagles, hawks, owls, snakes, fish, insects, wolves, coyotes, bears, and more. One harsh truth is that everything in nature eats something else. Smaller critters are easier to prey on than large ones.
A fed deer is a dead deer. What keeps many critters alive are the memories of the fears that they encountered when growing up. People that feed wildlife mean well but are often responsible for their live lawn ornament deaths. Nose to nose contact and fluids spread CWD, and many deadly diseases. Domestic critters and wild ones should not interact. Wildlife are not fed with antibiotics and immunization shots.
When a rainbow trout spawns in the wild, less than a dozen fingerlings out of thousands will survive to reproduce. Like it or not, other critters must eat too. Even the parents of fingerlings will feed on their young. The deadliest predator of baby bears are the male adult bears.
Animals in the wild do not live in little huts, have parties, sell cookies, or have a Disneyland life. Danger and death can happen anywhere and at any time. If it is not a predator it could be a speeding vehicle, wind turbine, harsh weather, diseases, flus, or fighting with each other.
The survivors are the winners! Those few that reproduce leave a strong DNA to help the next generation survive the world’s changing environment.
Do you want other people to handle your kids?
Montana Grant
