Keeping wild animals out of your backyard is a difficult task. Unfortunately, there are many harsh and expensive ways to do this; however, there are also many humane options available if you know where to start looking. Here are some successful ways to keep wild animals out of your backyard.
1. Wire fences
Wild animals may have a hard time climbing wire fences due to how slippery it is. This will reduce the amount of damage they can do to your garden and yard. They may still attempt to jump over the fence or dig under it, but these options are much harder for them. Another way that you could try is using wire fences by covering your garden with chicken wire. Just cut some holes in it so that seeds and water can get through, and add twine on both sides of the main length of wire so that you can frame out where you want your garden to be with the chicken wire. You don’t want to put this all-around your yard because wild animals would steal vegetables from this if they were able to get their paws or claws on it.
2. Motion-activated sprinklers
Take a trip to your local home and garden store, and you will be able to find motion-activated sprinklers. These look like regular sprinklers but can sense when animals are coming towards them. When they sense movement, the sprinklers instantly turn on; water begins to pour out of them until the animal is gone, or it senses that there is no more movement near it. Since most wild animals don’t like water, this may scare away any would-be intruders in your backyard.
3. Cats
Cats are already naturally great predators, so they can be an ideal solution to keeping wild animals out of your backyard. The only issue with this is that you must make sure that the cats will stay in your yard and not wander off. If you want to use cats to keep wild animals away, it would probably be best if you gave them a small pen to live in, so they wouldn’t escape.
4. Sound
If you don’t want to rely on harsh chemicals or expensive gadgets to keep wild animals out of your backyard, there are other options. One option is using sound. There are some electronic devices that can be plugged in for this purpose, but they can be quite costly and sometimes don’t even work. A cheaper solution would be getting an MP3 player and some speakers so that you could play the sounds of barking dogs or howling wolves around your yard. Since wild animals naturally hate these sounds, it may scare them away from coming into your yard.
5. Keep your yard clean
When your backyard is dirty and messy, wild animals will naturally start looking for food in the area. If you would like to keep them away, make sure that you pick up any trash or fallen fruit on a daily basis. This will not only keep your yard neat and tidy but will also help prevent you from attracting unwanted visitors into your backyard.
6. Repellents
One of the most expensive and dangerous ways to keep wild animals away from your backyard is using harsh chemicals; however, there are some safe and inexpensive methods that you can try at home. One such method is to sprinkle chili powder around your yard or garden. This will irritate wild animals’ paws and noses when they come into contact with it, which may scare them off from exploring your property any further. Another way would be to use natural oils like peppermint oil; this is both safe and effective at repelling wild animals, so you won’t have to worry about spending too much money on these products. Just make sure that you don’t plant anything in the oil, or it’ll be rendered useless.
Why should you keep wild animals off your yard?
Wild animals will not only be a pain to get rid of, but they can also cause serious damage to your property. If you have a fruit tree, they may eat all the fruit before it can be harvested. If you have lawn furniture or garbage cans in your backyard, they could get broken; there is even the possibility that an animal will urinate on them, which could cause permanent stains. There are also some animals (like raccoons) who like to dig; this can make your yard look like a mess, and it will be hard to reseed the area. There are also some more peaceful animals (like rabbits) who may simply get spooked and accidentally step on you while running away from an intruder or predator.
As you can see, there are quite a few reasons why you would want to prevent wild animals from coming into your yard. By using these methods, you’ll be able to successfully keep them out of your yard in no time.