Customer Reviews

The Backyard Battle Plan : The Ultimate Guide to Controlling Wildlife Damage in Your Garden

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I bought this book hoping to add to my knowledge of innercity animals and my repetory of methods for excluding them from my yard. Unfortunately I was dissappointed. The book provides few clues for dealing with animal problems short of killing them. While this may be the first choice for many people who are frustrated with animals that have moved into the attic or made a mess of the garden, there are other methods of resolving these types of problems that are for the most part glossed over by the author.

The author seems to have written this without much research. Much of the information presented about an animal's natural history or it's behavior is incomplete and sometimes just plain wrong. In skimming through chapters on animals I was very familiar with, I found a dozen errors. Further the information on diseases and zoonotics is poorly written and in addition to providing incorrect information, is not up to date about about vector animals.

There are other books that are much more informative about this subject matter. For a better understanding of behavior and habitat, check out "Wild Neighbors" which is put out by the Humane Society. You might also check out "Living with Wildlife" by Landau and Stump or "When Raccoons fall through your Ceiling" by Lopez. Even if you ultimately find that the only solution for you is to kill the animals that are bothering you, these books will give you a better understanding of how and why the animals are behaving the way they are. In many urban settings, removing one animal just makes room for another one. At some point you'll want to know how to stop that cycle and these books will provide you with information that can help.

If you have a problem with many different types of animals eating your garden this book may be of interest to you. The author addresses virtually every type of animal the average gardener may encounter and then some, which may be very helpful if you have a problem with: alligators, bears, bison, moose or wolves. While the book provides a good overview, due to the wide variety of animals it discusses it doesn't go into as much detail as some readers may like.

If you are an animal lover who is striving to have a garden and live harmoniously with nature, this book may not be for you. As the title suggests, the author views the critters devouring our gardens as "the enemy". Some of his references include books on tactical war strategies. While perhaps effective, not everyone will appreciate some of the author's methods and philosophies.