is one of the worlds leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine, (dramatic music) providing state-of-the-art veterinary care for more than 3,000 wild animals each year.

The Center of draws on lessons learned from each patient admitted to teach the world to care about and care for wildlife and the environment.

(water splashing) (birds chirping) >>Funding for "Untamed" is brought to you by, (water splashing) (birds chirping) (dramatic music) (upbeat music) >>The Wildlife Center of Virginia is one of the nation's leading hospitals for wildlife medicine.

And every year we treat more than 3,000 wild patients, representing 150 species.

Our phone will literally ring sometimes a thousand times a month, but many of those calls are not about injured wildlife, they're not about orphaned wildlife, they are calls from people who need information about the wildlife, they find around their homes, their wild neighbors.

(gentle music) Now, when we talk about wild neighbors, a neighborhood is a neighborhood, whether it's a human neighbor or a wild neighbor, you wanna get to know them, you wanna know who they are, you wanna understand their routine, you wanna know about their comings and goings.

And if you see something out of the ordinary with your human neighbors, it may well warrant an investigation, just like something that is seen to be out of the ordinary with our wild neighbors.

(gentle music) What we find is that many times when people call, what they are seeing is something they simply don't understand.

We get calls about problem situations with wildlife, a nocturnal animal was seen during the day, a fox, a raccoon, a skunk.

(gentle music) Well, the truth is they're not purely nocturnal animals, and especially at certain times of the year it's completely normal for them to be out foraging for food during the day time.

An animal that's not terribly afraid of me.

Well, when baby animals leave the nest especially animals like young foxes, they're curious.

Now they're not going to come up and allow you to pet them, but they may not run away like their parents might.

They haven't yet learned the appropriate fear of humans.

And there are legitimate wildlife conflict situations, the squirrel has moved into my attic, the bear is at my trashcan, a deer or a groundhog eating the flowers on my deck, they're in my garden, what am I to do?

(gentle music) Well, the first thing we want people to do is understand nature is a catalog, you don't get to choose the animals that you will see and won't say in your yard, it's just not that simple.

But many times the things that people do, drive the behaviors of wildlife.

(upbeat music) >>The Wildlife Center of Virginia receives many calls about healthy wild animals every year.

Generally, these are animals that don't need the hospitalization or rehabilitative care that we can offer, they've simply been deemed a nuisance by a homeowner.

(gentle music) People are often surprised to see these wild animals near their homes.

And sometimes wildlife can cause real structural and property damage.

We try to guide people through solutions to these problems that are fair and humane for the wild animals.

(gentle music) When people encounter wild animals on their property, we hope that they'll remember that these animals being there doesn't make them a nuisance, they're just there trying to survive, and often are attracted by human related things like trash and outdoor food.

(gentle music) We receive nuisance wildlife calls from all across the state of Virginia, from very rural areas to the middle of big cities.

Some species can actually thrive in very developed areas, so it's important for us to start by understanding why the animal is there.

(gentle music) We receive calls about many different species of wildlife, from groundhogs to bears, to birds of prey, but snakes seem to elicit the most negative response from the general public.

We receive many calls about deterring or capturing and relocating snakes from structures or properties.

There are especially high numbers of reptiles seen in the spring because they're most active during this time of year.

And we always seem to get the same question, are there an especially high number of snakes this year?

Unfortunately, the answer is generally no, most wildlife populations are in decline, so it's especially important for us to protect and conserve these animals.

Snakes and in fact all wild animals are looking for four things as they navigate their habitat, food, water, shelter and reproductive opportunities.

If they're near your home or on your property they're probably finding one of these things there, and you can reduce that by eliminating those resources.

If you have mice, eliminate them using humane methods, that means no glue traps, netting, or poisons.

And if there are snakes coming into your home, look for the places that they're accessing those areas and seal those gaps.

We encourage callers to think about their snake conflicts, in the context of the natural lifestyle of these animals, debris and brush piles will be good attractants to snakes, so reducing the availability of these sheltering resources will help to reduce the snake population around your home.

(upbeat music) It's important to remember that all wild animals will be attracted to things in our yard.

You can't have a bird feeder without having the hungry black rat snakes that like to feed on those eggs.

And you can't have a backyard pond full of frogs without water snakes that love to eat them.

(gentle music) We can also help our snake neighbors by reducing the things on our property that may be dangerous to them.

Landscape netting and glue traps are among the most common reasons snakes are admitted to the Wildlife Center of Virginia and rodenticide baits are also a huge problem for animals that prey on rodents, like snakes and birds of prey.

(gentle music) It's important to use humane deterrence rather than catching and relocating snakes.

Reptiles tend to have very small home ranges, and if they're moved from one place to another, struggle to survive.

(upbeat music) >>Some of the most common mammal species we see here in Virginia, in our backyards include foxes, skunks, raccoons and groundhogs.

Some people might be alarmed to see these species in their backyards because they see some of them as predatory animals.

(gentle music) There is sometimes a fear that these animals like foxes will predate on pets, however, that is highly uncommon.

Some people might be surprised to see wildlife species in their backyard because they associate these animals with only living in the woods or only coming out at night.

However, as we are expanding our homes and our communities, we are pushing into territory that was once a part of the natural landscape, and this used to be perfect habitat for wildlife.

(gentle music) Human and wildlife habitats overlap in many ways.

For example, our farm lands have flat and hilly areas, groundhogs love to live in areas where they can forage in the flat lands and burrow into the hills.

(gentle music) We like to have neighborhoods in areas where there might be woods bordering a creek or a stream or a field, foxes especially like this type of habitat, where they can go between the two types of ecosystems to find what they need.

(gentle music) Urban areas actually support wildlife in many ways.

For example, we like to put up bird feeders to attract songbirds.

However, the presence of songbirds might also attract predators of those birds.

Ground dwellers will also be attracted to the seed that falls to the ground.

(gentle music) Another thing on the ground, like our gardens will attract things like groundhogs and skunks that want to come and eat the vegetables.

Food is not the only thing that attracts wildlife though, our backyard sheds often look like great places for denning mothers like foxes or skunks to raise their young.

(gentle music) It is important for us to remember that our health is very dependent upon the health of wildlife and the environment.

The places that we are building our neighborhoods on, were actually home to these species long before we moved in.

(gentle music) The most common calls we receive at the Wildlife Center of Virginia regarding healthy wildlife seen in backyards, would include foxes denning under backyard sheds, groundhogs in the garden, or sometimes skunks being out during the daytime.

Usually harmless exclusion methods are the best way to handle these situations.

However, exclusion methods should not be performed during breeding season or rearing season, as we would not wanna separate families.

While trapping and relocating used to be acceptable in Virginia, recent studies have shown that it's actually not really successful, and it's also pretty inhumane.

Relocating animals actually compromises their ability to find the natural resources they need to survive.

An animal also exerts a lot more energy, either searching for these resources or trying to find their way back to where they were relocated from.

(gentle music) Relocation also introduce a disease from one individual to an entire population, where that disease wasn't already present.

(gentle music) It is important to remember that if a habitat is supportive of wildlife, relocating one animal does not prevent the next animal from coming and moving in.

The big takeaway here is that we should be more tolerant of wildlife, if we expect to co-exist with them peacefully.

You don't have to invite wildlife into your yard, but you should be familiar with the natural histories and behaviors of your state's native species.

(gentle music) Understanding and respect is the first step to resolving human wildlife conflicts.

(upbeat music) >>Certain times of year, especially when natural food sources are limited, bears have figured out that there are very easy food sources to be found in areas around our homes, especially in the spring when bears have just awakened from a long period of time, when they aren't eating or drinking, they are generally pretty desperate for food, and the easiest way to get as many calories as they can putting in the least amount of effort is to visit somebody's trashcan or bird feeder.

(gentle music) Most people in Virginia don't even know that bears are living around where they live.

And we have bears from one coast to the other side of the state.

And so in most cases, when people see a bear, generally it's because a bear is accessing some sort of food source in their yard, so whether that be a trashcan or a bird feeder.

So the most important thing to do is to remove access to those foods.

So if a bear is accessing your garbage, you wanna make sure that you're only putting your garbage out the morning of pickup, you're using a bear resistant container.

The other big draw is bird feeders because they can hold up to 18,000 calories, and so we recommend that people do not feed birds in the summer months and wait until the winter, when bears are in their dens to feed birds.

(gentle music) The most important thing to remember, in any encounter with a bear is what you do and how you behave will really dictate what happens in that situation.

So if you see a bear in your yard, you can take steps to harass the bear, basically shout at the bear, tell the bear to leave, you don't want them to be comfortable in your yard.

You also don't wanna ever surprise a bear.

So if you are going outside at night or walking your dogs around the neighborhood, make sure first of all, that you are making a noise, so that the bear knows you're there.

And if you are walking dogs, it's very important to keep those dogs leashed, so that they can not chase the bear.

(gentle music) The question of, can bears be trapped and relocated?

Is not quite the right question.

Of course we can do that, but the real question is, what problem would that solve?

Or why would we be doing that?

And when people request that we come to move a bear off their property, it's generally because the bear is getting into something in their yard that they don't like.

And in most cases, even if we did remove that bear, chances are that another bear would just be there shortly afterwards.

It doesn't solve the original problem, which is that there's an attractant on your property.

(gentle music) When we do move bears, oftentimes we see really far movements.

So bears can walk hundreds of miles to go back to sites that they've been feeding at and where they know where a food resource is, and a lot of times that means crossing roads or getting into areas that's dangerous to them.

And so we do see a lot of bears killed on roads, when they've been moved for any purpose.

(gentle music) Every year, we have thousands of interactions between people and bears.

And as long as we've been keeping records, we have no records of a bear ever killing a human being in Virginia.

(gentle music) Bears are built to be very dangerous animals, they're very strong, they have really big claws, they're very powerful, but they rarely ever injure people.

And the thing to remember is that what you do in any encounter really matters as the outcome of that encounter.

So we have a number of guidelines and materials available to people, so that they can act appropriately when they do see a bear.

You always want to stand your ground, or give the bear some space.

You never, ever wanna run away from a bear.

(gentle music) When people started arriving here, bears were common across the landscape in Virginia, but because they were looked at as a threat, they were trapped out for their furs and for their meat, and land was cleared for agricultural purposes.

Bears only really remained in very small pockets in Virginia, and by about 1900, all that was left were these really small populations.

(gentle music) That was something that happened all up and down the East Coast, steps were taken over the next hundred years basically to improve these populations and to allow them to rebound.

Part of that was big land purchases and the creation of these habitats for them in Shenandoah National Park, and we have national forests.

And part of it was hunting regulations were put in place to protect females so that they could have cubs over the winter, and increase the population that way.

And since then, we've seen this population rebound from very few animals to a point now where everyone is seeing bears across the Commonwealth.

(gentle music) The importance of coexisting with wildlife versus fighting with wildlife is something that people don't necessarily recognize how easy it actually is, so with just a few simple modifications to your lifestyle, you can live your life in harmony with the environment and animals around you, versus always having to pick up trash strewing around in your yard, or pick up a bird feeder that's been stomped on.

(gentle music) People move to Virginia and people visit Virginia because of our wildlife here.

And so it's important, that we take steps to co-exist with that wildlife, in order to maintain the beautiful environment that we live in.

(gentle music) The game department and the residents and visitors to Virginia, all share in the responsibility to help keep bears wild.

And part of our responsibility is to make sure that people have the information they need, to know what to do in an encounter, to know how to proactively prevent conflicts or problems with bears.

And the other side of that is that we need the citizens and businesses and localities to also be taking steps to make sure that they're not attracting bears into areas where they shouldn't be, or they cause issues for the residents.

It's really heartening to see communities who are taking it upon themselves to become Bear Smart or pass ordinances that actually reduce conflicts within their communities.

And of course, we would like to see that all across Virginia, and we understand the challenges to that a lot of times, but in certain cases, all it will take is just a view ordinances about when you can leave trash out or when you can feed birds, that will really make a difference when it comes to coexisting with bears.

(upbeat music) >>I think a Bear Smart community is a place that realizes that the bears were here first.

I think it's a place that is proactive, and not reactive to a bears activities.

I also think it's a place that tries to do the right thing and recognize what needs to be done in the community, so the bears don't suffer for actions of the property owners and guests of the resort.

(gentle music) Being a Bear Smart community, it's always a moving target.

You know, we have 3,700 property owners that live here, that visit here.

We have thousands of guests that come with the introduction of Airbnb, and you know, venues like that, where people can come and they're really not exposed to nature, they're not exposed to the woods.

You run into situations and circumstances, I mean, we've introduced bear proof dumpsters.

We started out with latches, but the latches weren't big enough, so then we had to go with bigger latches.

And you know, we've decaled the place up, we put signs and stuff up.

Busy weekends, we hand out brochures to the resort guests and we kind of let them know that, you know, Bear Smart is the right thing to do.

And just educating folks about, you know, what they're gonna encounter in reference to bears and wildlife at Wintergreen.

I would like to say it's easy, but it takes work.

You have to take reports, you have to go out, and investigate why the bears are showing up.

(gentle music) It's a myriad of things that it could be.

So you just need to put yourself in a position to where you you meet with property owners and guests and find out if they're showing up for a food source that shouldn't be there.

And try to educate property owners and guests of your community and come up with creative solutions on removing non-native food sources as for the bears to be exposed to.

(gentle music) We investigate their interactions with people, with property owners, with guests, some of the toughest things that we run into are folks that don't live here, and they think it's pretty cool to hand feed a bear.

And what's left in the wake of that is, is that a bear has picked up (gentle music) a really bad habit for him, to go and to seek humans for food.

And, you know a lot of the times when I run across a situation or a circumstance like that, I'll get in touch with the owner of the property, if it's an Airbnb, and you know, just have them reach out to their guests prior to their arrival and you know, share as much information as you can.

I mean, not every situation is exactly the same, but you know, we just try our best to work through it.

(gentle music) It's easy to blame the bears, when we don't do the right thing.

Every time, you know, we expose a bear to a non-native food source and the bears are the ones that suffer, when we don't do the right thing.

(gentle music) If you have folks that have an unnatural fear, I don't wanna say a phobia, but just an unnatural fear of a bear.

(gentle music) You know they want, whether the bear's done anything or not, they want that bear removed from the community, at whatever cost.

So sometimes you have to go out, you have to meet with a property owner and or guest, and you have to placate a situation and you know, bring them to a point, that that bear does not pose a harm.

(gentle music) You know, for the most part, the folks are receptive to what we're trying to do.

A lot of the times, you know, people will dismiss bear's actions and they won't even call us.

(gentle music) To my knowledge in the history of Wintergreen, which is coming up on 44 years this year, we've never had any sort of bear attack here at the resort.

And I think it's been because of folks, you know, doing the right thing.

I think the best thing you could do as a community, if you're gonna do an upstart for Bear Smart is get in touch with your local game biologist, that's a wonderful resource.

They're really responsive to any questions that you may have.

You have them come out and look at your property, do an assessment.

(gentle music) Without being a Bear Smart community, the bears will be removed because people recognize them as a nuisance.

And you know, it gives them the opportunity to co-exist with us.

And it gives us, gives them the opportunity to thrive (upbeat music) >>Regardless of where you live, sooner or later, you're going to encounter wildlife around your home or in your community.

And there are things you can do to be a good neighbor to those animals.

First of all, get to know your neighbors, learn the species of wildlife, that are found in your community, learn about their behaviors, and their natural history.

Many times their behavior changes from season to season and what might be completely abnormal in the wintertime is completely routine in the summertime.

Get to know your neighbors.

Respect their space.

If you find animals in your yard or around your home, don't approach them.

Wildlife are indeed wild animals, and they need to have that escape distance.

When problems come in, it's almost always because humans have crowded the animal.

Now, if you'd like to make your yard a more hospitable place for your wild neighbors, go for native plants, the types of natural food that these animals would eat ordinarily, and provide a source of clean water.

And if you wanna leave a corner of the yard a little overgrown for nesting territory, that makes it even more inviting.

Now, if you have a real problem with an animal, maybe a squirrel has moved into your attic, or a deer or groundhog is in your garden.

There are non-lethal ways to change that situation, to encourage the animal to naturally move on along and go find food someplace else.

Your public library or your state wildlife agency will be an excellent source of that information.

But ultimately if you find an animal that just won't leave, don't trap it and relocate it.

And I don't care what the animal is, in most States that's illegal, but in all circumstances, it's unkind and inhumane.

If you can imagine yourself being torn from your home and taken to a place that was unfamiliar to you, that's exactly what you're doing to that wild animal.

Look for those problem solving solutions in which all parties will win.

(gentle music) With a little bit of effort, we can all be good wild neighbors.

(upbeat music) (water splashing) (birds chirping) >>Funding for "Untamed" is brought to you by.

(water splashing) (birds chirping) (upbeat music)