My Backyard Jungle: The Adventures of an Urban Wildlife Lover Who Turned His Yard into Habitat and Learned to Live with It by James Barilla
My rating: 3/5 cats
so this is a book about where ideology and reality clash. mr. barilla finally becomes a homeowner, has a bit of land and a family, and wants to create a little ecological paradise in his backyard. a place where nature can be nature, and he can sit amongst his fruit trees and watch animals frolic while he eats a homegrown, sun-ripened peach, all things harmonious.
so he has his backyard certified by the national wildlife federation as a nature sanctuary, buys a bunch of fruit trees, follows all the rules, but then realizes that it is a bit more complicated than he had imagined.
because what do you do—what is your responsibility as a sanctuary when a single squirrel strips all of your expensive peach trees? what happens when an animal burrows into your house and keeps you awake with its scratching and scrabbling crawlspace investigations? can you really allow a bear to live under your porch when you have young children?
because this would be great, in theory:
but, you know, sometimes animals get angry:
or nosy
or just destructive
and all the optimism and good intentions might not be enough to prevent nature from doing what nature does—surviving any way it can, even if it means inconveniencing humans.
so this begins his exploration of places where wild animals have already crossed over into human territories, and blurred the line between wild and urban designations, and what level of co-existence is possible.
because for all his good intentions, sometimes it is unclear what is the right thing to do. what do i do with this turtle i found in the road? do i protect it from cars and plop it somewhere, or does that screw the turtle up on its path to its breeding habitat? do i rescue this half-frozen lizard and take it home to heal, or does this confuse nature’s fragile balance?
he explores the population of green monkeys in dania beach, florida, and sees how the people there have learned to co-exist with the creatures.
they are just getting too smart…
then he goes to delhi, to witness their “monkey menace”
which is a very interesting chapter, and between the monkeys and the terrifying traffic situation, really reinforces my desire to never ever go to there.
and then he spends some time following a trapper around in his south carolina, where he himself is living, and learns all about the murky ethics of what to do when your home has been invaded by possums, rats, and bats.
and then off to northampton, mass, where bears hang out under people’s porches, wait for them to go to work, and then roam freely through the town.
and what book would be complete without a look at the new hipster hobby of beekeeping in brooklyn?
bees?
bees
which, after learning about “the red honey,” makes me want to swear off honey altogether for a little while. (which i failed at, since i totally had some at lunch today)
then it’s off to brazil to see the black-tufted marmosets
and then a little glimpse into animal trafficking and rescue and relocation. which was also very illuminating. and depressing.
but then it gets cute again, back in brazil, with the golden lion-headed tamarins
which are delightful, but also with a little attitude
but so these are in competition with the golden lion tamarins.
which are similar, but not the same, you tamarin-racist.
and it gets a little muzzy again, because the golden lion tamarins’ numbers have been successfully restored through human intervention, but just not in their proper territory.
golden lion tamarins are the only primate species whose fortunes have improved enough to be downlisted from Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to Endangered.
but now the golden lion-headed tamarins are making a move into the territory of the golden lion tamarins, which is where they “should” be, and will be competing for resources, so the “invasive” species will have to be moved. and the people who have been living amongst them, and have helped bring them back from danger and grown as attached to them as “pets,” are resisting.
so it gets to be a complex situation.
but the best thing about this book is introducing me to this organization.
they do very interesting work. barilla asserts that in order to help save species, while still respecting their status as wild animals,
You need a metaphoric sense of ownership balanced by the recognition that these are wild animals, not household pets.
An organization called Rare specializes in this kind of work. Their Pride Campaigns use commercial marketing tactics to create a sense of protective ownership for unique local species. Every campaign has a mascot, a friendly face to rally around, even if it’s a “crawfish.” Kids want their pictures taken with the creature; mayors want their picture taken, too. Gradually, the cultural norms shift towards awareness and protection. The approach has proven very successful: the first Pride Campaign…saved the Saint Lucia parrot from extinction by transforming the bird into a folk hero. As with many of the creatures in Rare’s growing menagerie, the parrot mascot has become an enduring symbol of island identity, and it still appears in costume at festivals.
which sounds like a wonderful solution and satisfies the need to near-heart the animal, but also keep the boundaries in place so as to preserve what is “wild” about them.
another quick note is that i love his observation about the monkeylike behavior of people. i like to imagine people are monkeys, too. i do it all the time, mostly when the subway is really crowded, or in boring meeting. soo much better than imagining them naked.
so, yeah—an interesting book about a situation that is not nearly black-white enough. but no pictures. so i had to supply them in my review.
you’re welcome.
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