Wildlife safety while camping allows both you and your children to fully experience nature without feeling threatened by animals. While most animals tend to avoid humans, some could become aggressive or attack if they feel threatened.
Cleanliness at your campsite is key to avoiding wildlife encounters. Food scraps, trash and even dirty clothing may attract wildlife into your site and pose potential health hazards.
Keep Your Campsite Clean
Staying clean at a campsite takes some planning, but the extra effort can bring many rewards for both wildlife and fellow campers. Be sure to inspect tent, camping gear, and supplies carefully prior to heading outdoors as any crumbs or smells that attract animals might interfere with an enjoyable camping trip experience.
Reusable kitchen supplies (like these collapsible food containers) are an easy and economical way to reduce packaging that attracts bears, raccoons and other wildlife. If camping, use designated dishwashing areas at least 200 feet (70 adult paces) away from water sources to avoid disturbing animal habitat.
Be wary when selecting rocks to form your fire ring and only burn dead, downed wood that has been cut to approximately the size of your forearm (or locally purchased) before burning. Once camp has broken up, ensure all leftover ashes are spread out evenly before moving any logs from their positions at the campsite. When breaking camp be particularly careful not to disturb areas known for wildlife mating or nesting so you do not accidentally cause them distress by expending energy trying to escape from you.
Don’t Leave Your Tent Open
While camping, keep in mind that wild animals are an integral part of their environment and should always be respected as part of nature. Stay at a safe distance from wildlife at all times – particularly at night when nocturnal grazers such as antelope, zebra and bison may travel long distances looking for sustenance in darkness.
Your tent left open may attract bears, cougars and mountain lions to your campsite. Empty food packaging and toiletry containers with strong scents could be equally as appealing to them – though taking wildlife from natural areas is illegal and unethical.
An enclosed campground is your best bet when it comes to keeping wild animals away from your campsite, although even unfenced areas should consider choosing an area away from water, heavy foliage and hiking trails – animal habitats – when camping unfencedly. Also helpful is keeping food sealed airtight containers while storing trash in bear-proof receptacles – these measures should help avoid animals finding your campsite! To further safeguard against animals finding it easier, avoid carrying anything that smells like food or toiletries into nature with you.
Don’t Feed Animals
Camping requires us to remember that wildlife lives in its habitat. Keep distance when viewing animals from a distance and do not feed them – feeding wildlife could lead to negative interactions between people and wildlife.
Stay away from leaving food out in your tent or campsite, as this will draw in bears or raccoons to feed off of it. Instead, store it safely (in an enclosed vehicle or campground dumpster) away from the site.
Smelly items should also be kept out of reach of animals; store any such as food, soap and toiletries in your vehicle or bear-proof containers to minimise scents around your campsite. Make sure that garbage is stored away properly – playing low volume radio can even help deter animal intruders!
Don’t Make Noise
Animals depend on hearing to locate food, mates and predators; making noise that disrupts this activity makes your camping trip harder for both parties involved. Keep ambient noise levels to a minimum and refrain from shouting, yelling or singing loudly within your tent.
As strong-smelling items can attract animals into campsites, it is imperative that sites are left clean after each visit – this includes dishes, scraps, toiletries and perfumes that could have an adverse impact on animal health.
Bring resealable plastic bags for storage of garbage, and always use bear-proof trash receptacles when available. If you have pets, feed them at home so they don’t introduce unwanted scents into the campground. Feeding wildlife teaches them to associate humans with food sources – something which could potentially lead to dangerous encounters later. Observe viewing distance guidelines posted by park authorities; and report sick or injured animals immediately to park authorities.https://www.youtube.com/embed/oa1999TjwIE