Summer welcomes us with longer days and warmer temperatures. 

Whether its kids returning to the playground or playing baseball, or adults taking a walk on a nature trail or playing a round of golf, the beautiful outdoors beckons us. But its not just as human activity that changes during the Spring. Wildlife returns to its busy schedule, ready to shake off the cold months of winter.

For Drew Cowley of Little Rascals Wildlife Removal Services, it's time to remind everyone, especially parents telling their children  that wildlife should be enjoyed from a healthy distance.  Avoid personal contact with wild animals. Unfortunately, many children have no appreciation of the risk and dangers of wildlife. Children watch animated films with friendly dancing and talking animals that are blessed with human expressions, behaviors, and emotions.  Whatever children may think of Mickey Mouse, Rocky Raccoon, or Simon the Squirrel, wild animals are not their friends. 

For safety's sake, children must learn to never to chase, touch, or pick up any wild animal, dead or alive.  Any animals that can be caught may be diseased or injured and likely to bite.  Dead animals can be rife with disease.  Some may not be dead at all.  The opossum, for example, has an unusual defense mechanism, an involuntary comatose-like state induced by fear.  An inert opossum is often left alone by predators that want to chase, catch, and kill their prey.  They pick up a "dead" opossum by the tail and are inevitably bitten once the animal reanimates itself. 

So why do we have conflicts with wildlife?  Certain species of wildlife such as squirrels, opossums, raccoons, bats, voles, mice, and rats have managed to thrive in human habitats.  We're building homes farther into wooded areas and we've created appealing surroundings for them.  And with wildlife, just like with people, if you offer free food and comfortable surroundings, they will come.  And if they find a nice place, they're in no rush to leave. 

· Raccoons, for example, can live in attics, chimneys and even sewers.    

· Groundhogs are capable of building large underground tunnels that can cause your lawn to cave in.  

· Other burrowing animals such as chipmunks and skunks can dig under your foundation, driveway, or retaining walls, causing serious damages. 

· Rodents such as chipmunks, mice, and squirrels gnaw on hard objects to wear down their teeth.   Those objects can include your deck, siding, or down spouts.  

Wildlife can cause injury to humans not only through bites and scratches, but also through their droppings.  Even the seemingly innocuous cottontail rabbit is often a carrier of tularemia, a serious bacterial disease. 

Perhaps the most well-known and feared wildlife disease of all is rabies, a viral disease of the central nervous system that is spread when infected animals bite or scratch another animal or human.  Raccoons, in addition to being common carriers of rabies, also transmit distemper and roundworm.  Please let your children know that if they come across one of these "masked bandits" at a playground or anywhere outside, stay away.  Based on my years of experience in wildlife removal, raccoons are one of the most dangerous nuisance wildlife we face in New Jersey.  These animals are large and powerful.  If they are cornered or if you happen to walk toward a raccoon nest, these animals become vicious."

Never forget the "wild" in wild life.  If critters have made their home in and around yours, it is important to take immediate action and contact a nuisance wildlife removal service with the experience to extract these animals safely and humanely.