Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

Mary, as is her habit, has covered the topic until I know too much already. I particularly enjoy her sense of noting that which is normally unsaid but needs to be. God bless Mary Roach!

“Here are some species the EPA, the USDA, and the Department of Health and Human Services consider ‘pests’: chipmunks, bears, raccoons, foxes, coyotes, skunks, flying squirrels, tree squirrels, little brown bats, rattlesnakes, coral snakes, cliff swallows, crows, house finches, turkey vultures, black vultures, and mute swans.” – from FUZZ “Agencies can end up spending as much money tracking down the last ten of an invasive species – and monitoring for eleven, twelve, thirteen – than they spent eradicating the first ten thousand.” – from FUZZ Author Mary Roach is a national treasure. Her books, probably best classed as “popular science,” which describe the condition of the human species and the interactions of its members with aspects of their environment, are penned with a wink and a nod to send the message that her observations should be taken seriously – but not too seriously. FUZZ: WHEN NATURE BREAKS THE LAW is told in a slightly more somber tone because the topic includes the eradication of other creatures with whom we inhabit Earth. Still, it has its lighter moments. The content of FUZZ seems to generally classify unfuzzy human and animal/plant interactions into three categories: 1) fatal, e.g., bears, elephants, and big cats attacking/killing people, 2) Irksome, e.g., monkeys, various bird species, and mice wreaking havoc on otherwise tidy human environments and possessions, and 3) invasive species introduced by humans into foreign environments for a perceived beneficial purpose that drastically backfires, e.g., rabbits introduced into New Zealand. Trees that kill/injure people by dropping coconuts or cones, or by simply falling over from age, and poisonous plants/seeds that kill when eaten are included in One. For all three categories, the author describes measures being taken or researched to ameliorate the conflicts: traps, animal behavior and genetic modification, translocation, outright killing, and, yes, human behavior modification (i.e., tolerance). In all of this, humor can be found in unlikely places: “Yosemite rangers tried translocating the bears that were breaking into cars, moving them to the other side of the park. The result: car break-ins on the other side of the park.” “The classic cornfield scarecrow may actually attract birds, because they start to associate it with food. To a flock of migrating blackbirds, it’s the golden arches on the side of the highway, the Bob’s Big Boy sign, a reason to pull off for a large, fattening meal.” “The San Francisco Giants baseball team looked into hiring a falconer to deter the hot dog–crazed flock of gulls that circles the stadium in the ninth inning, defecating on fans and every now and then dropping down to interrupt play.” “In parts of New Zealand’s South Island you run across signs warning of the dangers of “wilding conifers.” Pine t...

Animals don’t follow human laws. They just do what they always did, “unfortunately in some cases, trying to do it too close to people being people”. This idea seems evident, perhaps, to the point of being overlooked in our everyday lives. We may care more and more about the welfare of domesticated animals - and it’s great to treat them humanely, especially in the context of meat production - but I believe that less thought is put into the effects of humans encroaching on habitats of wild animals. Humans need space, nature has to cope and in some places it leads to conflicts. From bears plundering garbage bins to birds damaging plane engines, Mary Roach wrote a fascinating, intelligent and highly entertaining book on many forms of human-nature tensions happening on “our” turf and what can be done about them. Believe me, there are no easy solutions.