March 11-15 is National Wildlife Week! Orange County is a beautiful home not only to us and our pets, but to wildlife too. Now that Spring is around the corner, wildlife may be integrating itself into our lives a little more as it is peek breeding season for most of these animals. Here are some tips on how to share our homes with these wildlife animals to help ensure safety for us and our pets, as well as discouraging destructive behavior. • Cats and small dogs can be easy prey for predators and should be supervised as closely as possible or kept indoors. • Keep pet food indoors and do not leave food of any kind outside at night. Food left out at night will be taken as a welcome invitation by wildlife, and may prompt a future visit. • Remove any fruit which has fallen to the ground. • Store trash in covered, heavy-duty containers. • Keep yards free from potential shelter such as thick brush and weeds, and enclose the bottoms of porches and decks. • Eliminate garbage, debris, lumber piles, etc. • Check fencing and try to eliminate access points to roof tops. • Change automatic sprinkler settings regularly.
