Stratford Wildlife & Animal Services

01/11/2025

🌿 What really happens in your garden

When autumn arrives, many gardeners hurry to “tidy up” — cutting, trimming, clearing away every sign of what was.
But those dry stems we rush to remove — verbena, lavender, fennel, yarrow, sage — are not waste. They’re sanctuaries.

Inside them, life rests quietly:
🐞 ladybug larvae waiting for aphids to return,
🦋 butterflies sleeping through the cold,
🐝 solitary bees sealing tiny chambers with mud to protect their eggs,
and invisible lacewings clinging to the dry stems like little winter spirits.

Every stem you cut “to keep it neat” is a home destroyed — a generation erased before it begins.
And when this happens across many gardens, entire pollinator networks vanish without anyone noticing.

🌱 What to do instead
Leave the stems standing until March or April.
They shield the soil from frost, hold snow, and become shelters for all the tiny lives that make your garden thrive.

Let go of perfection. A “clean” garden is often lifeless; a “wild” one overflows with stories, seeds, and renewal.

If you must trim, cut high — leave 20–30 cm.
That’s all it takes to give refuge to a hidden world beneath the frost.

💬 By keeping the stems, you’re offering:
🏡 winter homes for bees,
🌸 safety for butterflies,
and a promise of life returning with spring

29/10/2025

Not all raccoons or wildlife that are seen out during the day are sick. Many are simply out searching for food in an attempt to fatten up for winter or feed their growing babies. If you are concerned about an animal, please call our wildlife hotline at 519-703-4000 to make a report.

Just like every animal is different, every situation is different as well. So, to assess whether an animal needs help, there are a few easy things to look for:

- Is the animal’s fur nice and well groomed? Or is it missing pieces and uncared for?
- Next, look at the animal’s eyes . Does the animal have it’s eyes open? Are they nice and bright looking? Or are they closed and crusted shut?
- Monitor the animal’s movement. Is it walking normally and well balanced? Or is it circling, wobbly or falling over?

These are just a few of the things to watch out for when assessing whether an animal is healthy and should be left alone, or if it is sick and requires assistance.

If you are ever unsure, we are here to help!

Stratford Wildlife & Animal Services
519-703-4000

Here is a link that is also helpful to put you in touch with local wildlife rehabilitation facilities:

www.ontariowildliferescue.ca

28/10/2025

Most collisions between cars and deer happen in October through December, when deer are on the move more, and when their minds are clouded by hormones as they seek mates. Please do your part to keep deer safe from accidents, and to protect yourself and your passengers at the same time!

Be mindful that deer are most active at dawn and dusk. During those times, it is particularly important to drive slowly and cautiously. Nobody likes to go slow on this big, open country roads, but slowing down is the singular most important way to avoid a collision.

Keep an eye on the sides of the roads, not just the road itself. We’re all prone to “road hypnosis” where we start zoning out looking at those white lines, but stay mindful of your surroundings. That will prevent you from hitting not only deer, but also other animals.

Don’t throw food waste into the road, ever! Deer and other animals are sometimes drawn to roads by waste like apple cores, peanut shells, and salty fast food wrappers. Spread the words out this very important step that we we can all take to prevent animals from getting killed on roadways.

If you do have a deer cross your path and can’t brake fast enough to avoid it, resist that knee-jerk urge to swerve. As terrible as it would be to collide with a deer, you will likely have a much more serious accident— quite possibly including human deaths— if you instead hit another vehicle head-on.

Call your local game wardens or police if you have struck a deer, even if the deer is already dead and can’t be treated. You may need a police report to file an insurance claim, even if you don’t yet know of any damage to your vehicle. Your local authorities need to be notified about deer that have already passed away, so they can be safely removed from the road before drawing scavengers into the road.

Here’s the hardest part for us, as wildlife rehabilitators, and for the general public, but it needs to be mentioned. If authorities determine that the deer needs to be euthanized after a car collision, they may choose to use a gunshot to the head as the method for euthanasia. We understand that this very upsetting to see, but please don’t interfere or try to stop it from happening. Adult deer hit by cars can almost never be successfully rehabilitated, and leaving them to suffer— even for the time it takes to transport them to a vet— can be extremely cruel. Please understand that even an “ugly” form of euthanasia is sometimes the kind and compassionate thing to do.

As always, though, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Please watch for wildlife so you can avoid tragedy this fall!

24/10/2025

20/10/2025

Tall grasses, uncut gardens and leaf litter provide a warm blanket throughout the winter for next years pollinators, butterflies, fireflies and more!

18/10/2025

This is a simple, yet great explanation as to why indiscriminate hunting and culls do not work long term to decrease coyote populations. It actually results in MORE coyotes! ⬇️

Coyotes have been around for about 2 million years in North America. Instead of being appreciated for their help to control disease transmission, keep rodent populations in check, consume animal carcasses, increase biodiversity, remove sick animals from the gene pool, and protect crops.....humans have been targeting these animals since the 1850s with mass killings. In fact, one coyote per minute is killed every year in the United States. Now you'd think with a kill rate of over 500,000 coyotes annually, there would not be that many coyotes around. Nope, the coyote's range has actually tripled since 1850. That's because indiscriminate killing of coyotes actually INCREASES their population because their social structure gets screwed up which leads to MORE breeding, LARGER litters, and MORE migration. It also pushes young, inexperienced coyotes into more contact with humans in search of food in the form of scraps, pets, and livestock. Interestingly, some of the research being done now is on WHY many humans still don't discard these practices despite their long-term ineffectiveness.
Photo from For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue

17/10/2025

14/10/2025

Most people panic when they see a skunk in their yard — but this gentle night wanderer is actually doing you a favor. 🌙
Skunks dig lightly in the soil to search for grubs, beetles, and larvae — pests that harm your plants. By turning the soil, they improve its aeration and health, just like natural mini-tillers.

They also eat fallen fruit, carrion, and insects like wasps and beetles that can damage crops.
Despite their bad reputation, skunks are shy, calm, and rarely spray unless threatened.

So, if one visits your garden at night — just let it be.
Your compost pile and your plants will thank you. 💚

14/10/2025

You might think I’m ugly…
But every night, I’m out here protecting you.
I eat over 5,000 ticks each season the same ones that spread Lyme disease.
So next time you see me in the dark, remember…
I’m not a pest.
I’m your free pest control team. 🩶🐾

05/10/2025

Seeing an animal on the side of the road does not always mean that they are deceased. Thank you to this caring individual for stopping to check!