Grove Robbers

We are often asked about raccoons, squirrels, and other four-legged competitors for our fruit. Many people have the idea to humanely trap and relocate troublesome wild animals, but this is illegal as well as a very bad practice. Relocated animals enter a region which already has a maximal population of their species, so either they will die (a likely outcome after an exhausting night in a trap and a terrorizing ride in a vehicle), or they will manage to outcompete an existing resident, which dies instead. There’s no getting around the fact that if you remove your territory from the wild habitat, not as many wild animals can live.

As a hobby grower, we can afford to share some of our fruit with wild creatures. When feasible, we protect fruit using bagging and other barriers. If we were growing to make a profit, we would use a pellet gun to drive off squirrels, and would humanely trap and euthanize raccoons and possums. If this troubles you, we ask whether you have ever bought food in a grocery store, and if so, why it is that wild animals did not eat it first…