Part of the magic of living in Prince George is the access to wildlife.Our house backs on to a greenbelt and we regularly view wildlife from our back window.
A few days ago, my husband spotted a bunny hopping through the bush in a search for the good vegetables in my garden. By bunny, I mean, of course, a giant woodland rabbit that was nearly as large as our dog. Had I come across the bunny in a dark alley, I would have handed over any carrots I was carrying and backed slowly away saying, "Okay, bunny, I'm not looking for any trouble."
A few evenings ago, my husband and I were on our deck when we spotted our resident bear just twenty feet away from our patio door slowly padding through the underbrush. It was a fairly young-looking black bear and we startled it when it noticed us.It hung around looking at us for a few minutes and then it sat down behind a bush and then began to munch on something.With a look of horror on his face with a sudden realization, my husband turned to me and said, "it's eating the ant trap."
Over the past few years, my husband and I (mostly my husband) have been engaged in the ant battle of the century.We have been overrun for the last few years by thatching ants and we destroyed a massive nest just in the back of our property last summer.We know there is another nest somewhere but we have not been able to find it. Consequently, being in our backyard on hot summer afternoons is intolerable due to the swarming hoards of horribleness.
Being the proactive sort, my husband wanted to engage in chemical warfare and destroy all ants.Me being the Pinterest sort, I had wanted to first try a variety of home remedies that wouldn't poison our dog, the landscape, or our children.As such, we have been trying a variety of home-baked ant-killing remedies of varying effectiveness.The last batch involved mixing peanut butter with a substance to kill the ants and (likely surprising no one) now also served as bear bait.
Upon the realization that the bear was having a little bedtime snack that we had inadvertently left out for it, we went full on bear scare mode and made as much noise as possible to scare the bear away.Our garbage is always safely inside in the summer and we are in a two-front war against the ants and our ursine cousins.
We're hopeful that by being (more) bear aware, this bear will not have to be destroyed by unintended consequences.
In the meantime, the new mantra in our house to kill ants is "organic is good, but poison is better."
