Wild Life….at our doorstep

She asked me to kill the spider
Instead, I get the most
peaceful weapon I can find

I take a cup and a napkin,
I catch the spider, put it outside
and allow it to walk away

If I am ever caught in the wrong place
at the wrong time, just being alive
and not bothering anyone

I hope I am greeted
with the same kind
of mercy

- Rudy Fransisco

***

 

Coincidently in our home this method is used for each and every wild trespasser. Killing a wild creature that enters our home is a strict no-no.  Only the size of the "cup" changes with the size of the trespasser.

Trees and plants have been an integral part of my life. When my husband and I decided to build our own home surrounded by a garden, we settled for a lovely landscaped garden with a patch of lawn and exotic flowering bushes.

I remember the very first sapling that we bought was that of 'Anant', a small sized tree with fragrant flowers. We showered the sapling with love and care and soon enough we were rewarded with the first sighting of the flower buds. One morning however, to my horror, I found that the buds were chewed off by large caterpillars. I removed the caterpillars by hand in a bid to save the remaining untouched buds.

Fortunately, that same year we read an article by Shrikant Ingalhalikar which narrated the author's experience with his favourite Bahava sapling. This experience echoed the experience we had with our Anant sapling. Reading the article however turned out to be insightful for us novice gardeners.

It taught us to identify a diseased plant from a healthy plant. Having a butterfly, moth or any other creature choosing a plant for hosting its young is actually a sign of a healthy plant.

Choice of a host plant not only depends on the health of the plant. It is an evolutionary association between the plant and the insect. These evolutionary associations have been around for millions of years, and any amount of controls put in by humans will not be successful in curbing the attempts of the creatures to lay eggs on the host.

Having insects visit the plant is actually beneficial to the plants. They facilitate pollination.Thereby aiding flowering and fruiting. Spraying the plants with chemicals to achieve the same result is somehow hard to understand and also a bit expensive

Many times, insects herald that something wonderful is about to happen. Sighting ants on a random plant stalk could be a sign of upcoming buds. Spraying insecticide to get rid of these creatures is not a wise idea.

What is Wildlife and why should it matter at all? Wildlife is creatures who are not humans and are not domesticated. So even an insignificant ant, sparrow, spider, grasshopper, or lizard is wildlife. There is no need to take a trip to the wildlife sanctuary to meet and greet the wild. These wild creatures can be in any place, even right outside our doorstep.

Since ancient times human ancestors have observed the wildlife at their doorsteps to make near accurate weather predictions, or natural calamities. With the advent of the modern age, we homo sapiens have elevated ourselves above the rest of the animal and plant world relegating the micro and macro wildlife to mere bugs. But the micro and macro wildlife do communicate in their own way. Let's see some examples.

The velvet mite is gone all summer. But it appears out of nowhere when it is going to rain! Just before the first rains, millions of young queen termites and drones leave their home in search of the mate. How can they accurately predict rains? Honeybees promote themselves in the hive hierarchy as they age day by day taking over tasks of increasing responsibility. How did they learn math? Frogs can find the shortest route to the water. Where did they get the map of the area? There are numerous such examples to learn from.

And yet, we humans fail to show them mercy let alone welcome them in our lives. Going back to the quote by Rudy Francisco, can we not think that the wild creature is caught in an unwanted situation and let them pass or pick them up and gently place them out of our way? Can we not give them a second chance?

Our beautiful, landscaped garden, the patch of lawn, and the exotic bushes are long gone. But we don’t regret the loss. They are now replaced by freely growing shrubs and trees that although selected and planted by us are never pruned. They provide the much-needed space and hideout for all the wildlife in our surroundings.

Environmentalists and scientists all around the world unanimously agree that if the wildlife is wiped out, humans don’t stand a chance to survive. This is how important wildlife is.

We can do our tiny bit and dedicate some space in our homes and neighborhoods to wildlife. Have some dedicated corners which imitate wild spaces forming tiny sanctuaries within the urban spaces. And yes, if at all a wild creature mistakenly crosses our path, let's keep a cup and napkin ready!

- Shivangi Chandrashekhar Datar