Taking a friendly approach in encounters with animals

Living With Wildlife is a book dedicated to navigating the challenges of how we share our homes and backyards with native wildlife. Written by a local ecologist and prolific science writer, Tanya Loos, this is her second book and is published by CSIRO Publishing.  The first that she wrote over ten years ago was a nature journal following the true Australian seasonal cycle in central Victoria of six seasons.  A lyrical little effort, Daylesford Nature Diary was published by em PRESS and edited by Gib Wettenhall. It sold particularly well around Xmas, which probably reflects poorly on the title and how literally some people take them.

This manual is a much more professional affair, complete with footnotes  backing up Tanya's tips on stopping birds flying into windows (try a sheen of clayey mud) or wrens attacking car side mirrors (put a sock over it). Invariably, she sides with the animal, urging as little intervention as possible. I fully agree that we humans already take up far too much space, and that showing appreciation and kindness for all our fellow inhabitants of Earth from spiders to flying foxes is well overdue. 

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