Recently, a slender, yellow-striped California whipsnake, small enough to fit in a person’s hand, was brought to the California Wildlife Center in Calabasas. Its lower body was so twisted in fine strands of fake spiderwebs that it was essentially a ball, with twigs and leaves stuck in the mess.
“Had that gone on much longer, it could have started severing into its skin,” says Lauren Michaels, director of animal care at the center. Fortunately, the snake recovered and was eventually released. Not every animal is so lucky, though. Cambria Wells, the center’s education and outreach manager, recalls a hummingbird that was similarly wrapped in webbing and didn’t make it.
Every Halloween season, wildlife rehabilitation centers across the country see cases in which birds, bats, snakes, rodents, deer and other wild animals become injured or entangled in seasonal decorations.
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The good news is that you can have a spooky spectacle in front of your house and still protect wildlife. Here are five ways to make your Halloween display friendlier to the creatures that fly, slither and scurry through your yard.
Skip stretchy fake spiderwebs
Of all the Halloween decorations people display outdoors, synthetic spiderwebs are the most dangerous, according to many wildlife experts. Made of strong, stretchy plastic, the webbing’s thin, hard-to-see strands can cling to animals and become wrapped around their bodies, posing a serious entanglement hazard. Trapped animals can go hungry, suffer constriction injuries, or even dislocate their limbs as they struggle to free themselves, Wells explains.
To get the spiderweb look without the stretchy strands, the best option is a solid web decoration made from rigid plastic or metal, she advises. Rope-style webs are safer than stretchy spiderwebbing, but they can still pose an entanglement risk.
If you do use stretchy or rope webbing outdoors, Wells recommends pulling it taut against a solid surface, such as your house, rather than across an open space where an animal could fly or travel through it.
A California whip snake brought to the California Wildlife Center in Calabasas after it became tangled in fake spiderwebs.
California Wildlife Center
Stick with solid decorations
The same principle applies to other decorations. Choose solid objects over anything with netting, strings, ropes, ribbons or other materials in which an animal could become entangled. Think tombstones, solid skeletons, signs or other decorations that hold their shape and don’t have loose or dangling parts.
Popular inflatables can be a safer alternative to netting or webbing, but you should make sure their anchoring cords and power cords are secured and check regularly for damage.
In general, look for durable decorations you can reuse year after year rather than items that are designed to be thrown away after a single season to reduce the broader environmental impact of your Halloween display, Wells notes.
Turn Halloween lights off when you go to bed
“Lighting is an underappreciated form of impact on wildlife,” Wells says. Artificial light can interfere with wildlife behavior and disorient migrating birds, many of which travel during the middle of the night and the early morning at this time of year, she explains.
If you want lights as part of your decor, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends opting for ones with warmer colors, such as amber, orange or red, rather than blue, white or other cooler-colored lights, whose shorter wavelengths are more disruptive to biological rhythms.
But regardless of the type of lights you use, the simplest and most effective step, Wells says, is to turn them off when you go to bed, giving wildlife darkness during the overnight hours.
Deck your windows
Window decals, creepy figures, glowing jack-o’-lanterns and other decorations displayed on or just inside your windows can still be seen from the street without introducing loose materials into your yard that wildlife could encounter.
Decorate with natural materials
Pumpkins are a Halloween staple, but you should remember that they’re also food. If you want to keep wildlife from chowing down on your carefully carved jack-o’-lantern without harming any creatures, Wells says, try bringing it in in the evening or coating it with a bitter apple spray or cayenne pepper diluted with water.
When spooky season is over, you can then compost your pumpkins or dispose of them according to your local food- or yard-waste guidelines. You can also check whether a local wildlife center or animal sanctuary accepts intact, untreated pumpkins for animal feed.
Other natural materials, such as gourds, hay, and cornstalks make for festive decor, but Wells suggests choosing materials from your local area to reduce the risk of introducing invasive plants or seeds.
If you find an entangled animal, call for help
If you discover an animal caught in or injured by Halloween decorations, resist the urge to untangle and release it. Injuries may not be obvious at first, and the animal may need medical care.
Instead contact a local wildlife rehabilitation center for guidance. You can find nearby resources through Animal Help Now.