Question:
I live in northern New York on the shore of Lake Ontario.
The temperature today is 20 degrees. Last night it was 10 below. I found
a woolly bear caterpillar walking across the snow. My question is should
I leave it there or bring it in for the rest of the winter? How do I
take care of it if I bring it in? Why would it come out of hibernation on
such a cold day? Thank you.
Replies:
Why would it be out? Who knows, but it was, and was moving, so I suggest
(belatedly of course since this was several days ago) leaving it alone.
Small creatures have many remarkable characteristics that allow them to
survive, most have been around a lot longer than humans and will probably
still be around long after we are gone, and all the help they need from us
is to be left alone.
J. Elliott
p.s. I don't mean this to sound flip, as if there are no human-caused
problems for small creatures - but those problems are a major subset of "not
leaving them alone" - i.e. destroying their habitat, adding foreign things
to their environment, etc.
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