Wildlife in our neighbourhoods

Wildlife doesn’t only live in rural areas. Many species make their homes in and around our towns and cities – even on, in and under our own houses. Monkeys, bats and owls, are just a few examples. Unfortunately many of these species are misunderstood and suffer at human hands as a result. Creatures that come out at dusk, dawn and at night particularly so.

Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) runs a wildlife rescue facility and wildlife sanctuary, located in a protected nature reserve in the heart of Malawi’s capital city. They provide veterinary treatment and rehabilitation to animals that have been injured, orphaned or rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, from poachers or people keeping them illegally as pets. They release those that recover and provide a safe sanctuary home to those that can not be released into the wild. Sadly, like many similar facilities, they also receive urban wildlife that have suffered persecution from their human neighbours. People poison, throw stones and sticks, trap, set dogs on, run over with vehicles, animals that are harmless and pose little or no threat. For this reason PACE joined forces with LWT to produce the most recent addition to our Urban Living module. It is a booklet to help people better understand and appreciate some of the often quite common wildlife species around them.

Our goal is to bust some of the myths, common myths, that cause fear, suspicion, and often cruelty towards urban wildlife. We’ve selected some the most persecuted species. Many are rarely seen clearly, species that behave in ways we don’t understand, and so can leave us feeling frustrated or intimidated, sometimes scared.

There are many simple things we can do to avoid conflict between humans and wildlife. A first step is to understand the animals better. This new booklet contains up close photos, clear information, fun facts and some small actions we can take to live peacefully and safely alongside our free-living urban neighbours.

There are some extracts below, or read the full booklet on our Resources / Urban Living page.