I love my dogs, I love my cat, I love feeding the birds. But alas, not is all rosy in my backyard. There is a dark side to having a dog, a cat, raising chickens or goats in the Broad Ripple urban area. Life is not always cuddles, licks, or pastoral observations. Enter the varmints of the underground-rats, raccoons, mice, chipmunks, opossums, coyotes, fox, voles, and other scoundrels that try to undermine your joy. I've given up on classifying squirrels as the enemy long ago. So how do you manage the unwanted intruders in your backyard?

The problem with wildlife management in urban settings is that most of the vandalizing attacks from the predators come after dark. They frolic in our yards from dusk to sun up. They leave just enough clues and mischief to challenge the smartest human to figure out who it was, how to stop it, and how to repair damage.

I can only speak from my experience and how we manage critters in our yard. Many articles suggest building barriers and denuding property so that these visitors don't like our yards. I'm not in that camp.

I do want some visitors, just not the destructive ones. So when things get out of control in our yard, we trap. For rodents, chipmunks, opossums, and raccoons, a live trap is set.

Per the IN.gov website: "If the captured animal is to be released after capture, it must be released in the county of capture and cannot be kept as a pet, sold, traded or given to another person. Releasing wild animals on a city, county, or state property (that means Marott, Broad Ripple and Holliday Park) may be illegal or require written permission. Contact proper officials before releasing wild animals on public property."

Suggestion from the DNR to follow to manage critters:

I wish you luck with your critter control. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes I just get to add to my bank of varmint stories to be used at the next party.