A Better Mousetrap

Today (September 4th 2026) is National Wildlife Day.  I would say I like wildlife.  I watch nature shows and movies about animals.  I escort bees and spiders out of my house.  I enjoy watching the rabbits hop around my backyard.  I thought it was cool when I saw a family of skunks, all of the little ones following their mother around.  But I do not want to meet most wildlife.  I do not want to go on safari.  I do not (as cute as I think mice are) want mice living in my house.  I do not want to pet anything that can eat me.  But books and movies are good.  I like those.

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

All around the world, as the population (of humans) grows, people are coming face to face with wildlife more often.  For various reasons this does not usually go well for the animals or the humans.  This book takes a look at what humans do when faced with unwanted animal interactions.

Mary Roach travels the world to find out what happens in various places when humans meet wildlife.  I'm not going to lie, it is not usually good for the wildlife.  A lot of the accounts in this book are about killing large numbers of animals, animals that people have deemed pests.  Animals that eat crops, or ruin machinery or break into homes.  This book looks at ways people have tried to kill these pest animals, or scare them off, or move them to another location, or coexist with them.  There are lots of methods but few good answers.  It is interesting to see the different ways people have tried to solve this problem and all the different ways people react to the problems and all the solutions.  There are people on every side of this issue.  Roach writes with a lot of humor which lightens the mood even though she is talking about machine gunning birds, or poisoning opossums.  I found it all very interesting, from the sometimes crazy methods people have tried to the unexpected consequences of those methods to the times the animals won and the humans were forced to give up.  No matter what side you are on in this debate I think you will find something of interest here.