Wildlife And Insecticide

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Wildlife is a precious natural resource. Most orchards enjoy seeing wildlife on farm and many benefits economically by leasing hunting and fishing rights to sportsmen. Orchards draw wildlife by providing food, cover and nesting areas. Birds like bobwhite quail nest in green under stories, while songbirds and grief doves nest in fruit trees. Insecticides used in orchard management may damage wildlife directly or indirectly. Wildlife can be affected directly when they are exposed to highly toxic agrichemicals.

Wildlife is exposed to insecticides when they eat the residues on plants and in insects. Eggs and young birds in nests can be exposed during spraying operations. Wildlife fall sick by insecticides may neglect their young, abandon their nests and become more vulnerable to predation and disease. Insecticides indirectly affect wildlife when the quantity or quality of their habitats is reduced. Insecticides that float into a stream can kill aquatic invertebrates and decrease food supplies for ducks or fish. When herbicides are sprayed on wildlife habitats, valuable vegetative cover is reduced.

How to save wildlife: Careful selection and use of insecticides can lessen their impact upon wildlife. The insecticides used in fruit production can harm wildlife and farmers can minimize adverse effects of pesticides on wildlife. Species that live in or around orchards are exposed to insecticides when they eat chemical remains on plants or in insects. Wildlife that are in fields or that enter fields almost immediately after an insecticide is sprayed are exposed. While they inhale vapor, the insecticide contacts their skin or eyes can harm them.

Safe insecticides: There are list of insecticides recommended in the manual for use on fruit crops. The insecticides according to their toxicities to birds, mammals and fish are given in this manual. The effects of insecticides on wildlife and fish can be reduced by using the least toxic alternatives. Insecticides can be low, moderate or high based on the hazard their use presents to wildlife like birds and mammals. The danger of an insecticide is based on its toxicity to wildlife, the way it is used and other characteristics based on its persistence in the environment. Wildlife uncovered to insecticides rates high may die or become sick. Insecticides rated reasonable may also cause death or sickness, even if death is unlikely. Insecticides rated low are unlikely to hurt wildlife directly.