Spinoff - free range in the wild?

[dentmom3]

Didn't want to hijack the other thread, but I've got my my own free range issue going on.

I was a free to roam kid myself in rural NH. As long as I could still see the house or the trail back to the house, I could play in the woods, the small stream, etc. And it was great!

Now I have three DC ages 4, 6, and 8. We live in a small CT town, great neighborhood that is surrounded woods. Great for them to play! We even abut a 3400 acre wildlife refuge! And this is my problem. In the last two weeks we've had a mama bear and three cubs, three different bobcat sightings and a coyote! Once the bobcat was in my back yard, once across the street and once at a neighbors - it came out of the woods while she was playing outdoors with her two boys 2 and 6 years old.

We all love our location and I love teaching the kids about the creatures we see, we hunt for tracks in the snow, we hike in the game refuge, but I can't bring myself to leave them outdoors for any length of time to play. I'm not right on top of them, but I'm not inside either. I know they aren't old enough to be doing the exploring I remember from my childhood, but I'm wondering now if I will ever feel safe enough to let that happen. Thoughts?

[Daffodil]

Black bears, bobcats, and coyotes just aren't that dangerous. I wouldn't let fear of them keep you from letting your kids play outside alone. Look at this list of fatal bear attacks in North America. It lists 17 fatal black bear attacks in the 2000's. By comparision, according to this U.S. Dept. of Justice publication, there were an estimated 115 stranger abductions in 1999. If you wouldn't let the risk of stranger abduction keep you from letting your kids play outside alone (and I don't think you should), you probably shouldn't let the risk of animal attack keep you from it, either.

Coyotes and bobcats are even less dangerous. According to the Wikipedia page on coyotes, there have been only 2 recorded fatal coyote attacks in North America. Most coyote attacks seem to take place in California, where coyotes live in close proximity to lots of people. The only bobcat attacks I was able to find information on were by rabid animals.

[AllisonR]

I'd look at it as a learning opportunity to find out about bears, bobcats and coyotes: how they behave, how humans should behave around them... and if the risk is realistic or not. Your DCs not being able to explore their environment is a huge handicap, imo. Of course that does not mean that ALL environments are healthy, but most of them are. I let my 5yo and 3yo out to explore, though the most "dangerous" animal we have had is a hare family that loves our backyard, but hop off the first second they catch wind of us. Oh, and twice we had porcupines, but we just let them be. I think the only reason we even see these animals is because of the housing development north of here. We are taking over their habitat, so of course they are coming closer to us, only because they have no choice. The animals want to stay away from you at least as much as you want to stay away from them.

[eepster]

Wild animals have been making amazing strides in coming back in recent years. I still live in the town I grew up in. 30 years ago there wasn't anything bigger than a squirrel within 50 mile of here. These days, we have deer and foxes running around town. There have even been bears a couple of towns over where DS goes to preschool.

Though this is a wonderful thing in terms of ecology, it does mean that humans and animals are now having more and more encounters. There is a greater chance of our kids having close encounters with wild animals than there was when we were children.

Unless your 4 yo is very small, all your kids are big enough that they shouldn't look like prey to any of the animals you listed. As long as you teach them how to behave around wild animals they should be OK.

I would start by making sure your kids know about not playing with/touching wild animals no matter how cute they are. We extend this to not touching any animals that we don't know. DS knows that the main reason animals bite is b/c they feel scared and that we need to not scare animals.

Next is to be aware of how to act around various animals if they feel threatened. Things like not running which can trigger a predator/prey instinct in many animals.

I would have them stick together and be aware of each other when they are out playing. There really is safety in numbers.

Make sure they can identify the various wild animals tat they see and that they know the habits and dangers associated with each. Knowing thing like never getting between a mama bear and her cubs; what a rattle snake sounds like; etc can be very important.

[dentmom3]

Thanks for all the responses! I know that I mostly need to get over my anxiety and just let them be, but I needed to hear the stats and voices of reason to help me get over it!

Some of the angst is coming from the increase in bobcats this year - I'm not complaining, we are on their turf, after all, but it does give me pause. The photos that one neighbor and I took are clearly of different animals and were taken a week apart - we've talked to the kids quite a bit about our animal friends, and our approach when we see them is one of cautious excitement and certainly not one of fear. I'm trying to instill a love of nature here while keeping my anxiety under wraps!

Originally Posted by eepster

Unless your 4 yo is very small, all your kids are big enough that they shouldn't look like prey to any of the animals you listed. As long as you teach them how to behave around wild animals they should be OK.

My youngest is actually *almost* 4 (I was being lazy when I typed the original post) and he is quite small. Not yet 30 pounds, so he's the size that my middle child was at 2! He's not in the yard without a sibling, and I think he's too young to wander into the deep woods anyway.

Thanks for all of the common sense responses! It is what I needed to hear. i don't want them to miss out on the great area we live in based on 'what ifs'!

[karne]

If your kids are playing in a noisy, happy kid way, it's quite likely that animal life will keep their distance. I definitely hear you about the bobcats-they are amazing and powerful animals. We've had a mama and baby bear lumber by with little notice of us, but the bobcats are alert and watchful. We see them because they, and the foxes, love our free ranging hens.