Welfare of Wild Animals in Urban Gardens and Allotments

Urban gardens and allotments provide refuge for wildlife but also expose animals to welfare hazards including pesticides, netting, slug traps, and predation from companion animals.

Key Facts

Garden netting kills millions of birds, hedgehogs, and reptiles annually through entanglement
Slug pellets containing metaldehyde cause slow deaths in hedgehogs that consume poisoned slugs
Open water features drown small mammals and fledgling birds that cannot escape steep-sided ponds
Gardens with native planting and chemical-free management support 10x more invertebrate biomass
Wildlife-friendly gardening guides are freely available from conservation organizations in most countries

Welfare Considerations

Urban gardens are significant wildlife habitat, but standard gardening practices cause welfare harms that most gardeners never see. Netting fatally traps animals. Slug pellets poison the wildlife that eat them. Steep-sided ponds drown hedgehogs and mice. Simple changes — using wildlife-safe netting only when essential and removing it promptly, switching to non-toxic slug control, adding ramps to ponds — can transform a garden from a welfare hazard into a genuine refuge.

What You Can Do

Replace metaldehyde slug pellets with iron phosphate pellets or physical barriers
Add escape ramps to any garden ponds with steep sides
Remove or roll up netting when not actively needed to prevent entanglement
Plant native species that support the insect base on which garden wildlife depends