Education needed when man and beasts share suburbs

When the weather heats up and suburbanites come out of their family room hibernations to rediscover the outdoors, we discover that we share our natural habitats with squirrels that raid our bird feeders, rabbits that ravage our gardens and robins that decide the best place to build a nest and raise a family is from a perch above our back doors.

Some folks complain about the Canada geese that take over a village park, a business parking lot or the water hazard on a golf course, honking and hissing at any humans who come too close and forcing folks to watch where they step. Even residents of the most urban of suburban communities have stories about hungry deer, smelly skunks, scary predatory birds or wily coyotes.

Most suburbanites accept, albeit some do it grudgingly, that we must share our gardens, patios, decks, soccer fields, golf courses and front yards with wild animals. Some celebrate the encounters by posting photographs on Facebook of the baby robins nesting above the gas grill, the raccoon who comes to the patio every night for a snack or the opossum taking her babies out for a midnight stroll. We print stories every year about people who make sure baby ducks get safely across busy streets, or kind souls who look after wild creatures in civilized environments.

But in some cases, the interactions between humans and animals end badly.

“We have an issue here with kids killing wild animals, specifically wild ducks,” begins an email from a woman named Sherry, who lives in an Aurora apartment complex featuring small ponds. She says a group of young boys has beaten ducks, stolen their eggs and even killed the animals and cut off their heads.

Beheading an animal can be a sign of serious emotional problems or a signal that something bad has happened to kids who do such things, according to research compiled by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.aspca.org). People who intentionally hurt animals “because they enjoy hurting things” often end up hurting humans when given the chance, the society says.

Indeed, a study by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reported that 85.4 percent of women and 63 percent of children in domestic violence shelters reported that pets in their homes also had been abused. And heinous serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy had a history of animal abuse.

But not all kids who toss a rock at a seagull on the beach are murderers in the making. Many are unkind to animals simply through their own ignorance, peer pressure or a desire to mimic behavior they've seen from older kids or adults.

“We try to teach compassion and respect for all life,” says Robyn Barbiers, a veterinarian and president of The Anti-Cruelty Society (www.anticruelty.com), which offers classes for children starting at age 2 that foster empathy and caring for animals. Located in Chicago, the anti-cruelty charity takes that message to school kids and teenagers in the suburbs, too.

“It's so important to teach kids right from wrong,” Barbiers says, noting the lessons a child learns about the proper treatment of animals “goes a long way later in life.”

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After my column about my family's cat, Maggie, accidentally escaping into the wilds of suburbia, being chased by a coyote, thwarting attempts to rescue her from a tree and being on the lam, I heard from several readers (one who called from Duluth, Minn.,) to find out if Maggie ever made it home. I am happy to report that Maggie was caught less than 30 minutes after we put her food dish in a trap on our front porch. She's healthy, more affectionate than she was before her adventure and seems as happy to be home as our family is to have her back.