Wheels: Is your car a cozy home for critters?

Living in a rural area, we co-habitate with critters of the wild on a daily basis. Avoiding large animals on the road and keeping small ones out of our homes and barns is a never-ending chore. It’s not that we don’t like or appreciate the variety of life that dwells in our midst — it’s an issue of safety, theirs and ours. A deer or moose can cause an amazing amount of damage to a vehicle and its occupants when struck by that vehicle, and no one wants to cause indiscriminate death or injury to a defenseless animal.

Aside from the obvious dangers of roaming wildlife capable of turning a speeding car into a pile of bent metal, there are smaller, perhaps more fragile members of the food chain just as able to wreak havoc on the machines of mankind. Mice, chipmunks, squirrels and the like also enjoy your warm, comfortable vehicle, and this year we’ve seen quite a bit of invasive activity.