Although watching wildlife can be a fun activity, most people would prefer not to do so in their own yard. While the occasional bird won't cause any harm, having squirrels, raccoons, bats, deer, or other wild animals on your property may lead to serious damage to your home or yard. The animals may scratch your walls or attic, chew through wires, or simple ruin your garden. All of the following methods will keep these wild animals away from your home in a safe and humane manner, without having to call a professional for help.

Don't Provide Food
The most important thing to do when trying to keep wild animals away is to avoid giving them food. This includes obvious items, such as bird seed, as well as the less obvious. Don't, for example, feed your pets outside or leave their bags of food outside your home. You also want to keep your garbage inside if at all possible as many animals, such as raccoons, will see this as a prime food source. If you must put your garbage cans outside, be sure that the lids secure tightly so no animals can get inside and the odor doesn't permeate through the plastic.
While the above food items may seem like obvious things that would attract wild animals, you also need to consider the natural food that you aren't responsible for. If you have fruit or nut trees on your property, this can easily attract animals as well. To minimize the problem without sacrificing your trees, pick up the fallen fruit, nuts, and even leaves on a regular basis.

Seal All Holes
If your concern is wild animals entering your home, not just your property, then you will need to work to seal up all holes that don't belong. Caulk along windows and doors and examine your home from top to bottom (from the exterior) for possible entry points. Don't forget to cap your chimney as well so animals can't enter through there. Remember that if you offer animals an entry point to your home, they will take advantage of it to get shelter.

Use Mesh In Key Areas
There will be some areas of your home that you can't completely seal up without a great deal of inconvenience, and for these areas, use wire mesh. One example would be to surround the area around your porch with mesh so no wild animals view it as the ideal shelter or nesting spot. Mesh is also useful for covering vents and air ducts.

Trim Nearby Plants
In the case of issues with more nimble animals, such as squirrels, you will want to trim back the trees on your property. To discourage squirrels from entering your attic, make sure that no tree branches are within several feet of your home as these animals are excellent jumpers. Even smaller plants such as shrubs and weeds can attract wild animals as they provide shelter from the sun and other elements. This means that you should keep every area of your yard well-trimmed to keep wildlife away.

Rely On Scents
Although they are not completely effective all the time, many people have received positive results by keeping wild animals away with scents these animals don't like. Soap is one example and you can either spray soapy water or dissolve some soap flakes into your soil. Many animals, particularly those that are prey, such as deer and rabbit, dislike the smell of blood meal, which is flaked and dried blood that comes from meat packing plants. You can sprinkle some of this around your property to deter large pests, but don't apply it right on plants as the high nitrogen levels can damage leaves. You can also try other scents, such as cheap perfume or other smells associated with humans. A final scent to try would be predator urine. You can buy this online and it helps to repel wild animals of all sizes since they are afraid of their predators.

Sound, Lights, And Water
All of the other methods mentioned to keep wild animals away involve things that you can simply leave and probably won't cause any disruption in your daily life, but if you become desperate there are other options as well. Many animals have the instinct to stay away from bright lights so if you are willing to increase your electricity bill and leave lights on in your yard all night, this can be a great way to keep away nocturnal pests. You can also try some sort of sound system, but that works best if you want the animals away from a particular building. A final option is to set up motion-activated sprinklers that will get the wild animals wet when they come too close. If you still have issues after trying all these methods, you can contact a wildlife professional for more help.

Read the Pest Wildlife Home Page page for helpful information and to learn more about How To Keep Wild Animals Away