We frequently talk about one of the greatest benefits of outdoor lighting: enhanced safety.
A well-lit landscape that eliminates murky, dark areas is a wonderful deterrent to bad guys. Numerous studies have shown that to be true. And countless police departments recommend using outdoor lighting as a deterrent to crime.
But two-legged criminals aren’t the only undesirables you want to keep off your property.
Keeping Unwelcome Critters Away
Landscape lighting can also be useful for deterring another type of pest: non-human intruders.
Raccoon looking for food in trash can
Unwelcome critters, in fact, probably pose more of a large-scale nuisance to homeowners than criminals – though certainly the severity of the threat isn’t quite the same.
And just as landscape lighting can be effective at repelling human intruders, it can have the same effect against unwelcome animals – at least to a degree.
Some pests aren’t going to be bothered a bit by your outdoor lighting. Unfortunately, animals that aren’t light-shy include some of the peskiest pests such as rabbits, squirrels, and mice.
But some animals will be deterred by your outdoor lighting.
A number of nocturnal foragers may be put-off by your outdoor lights. Raccoons, for example, might be deterred from raiding your trashcans and creating the kinds of messes that only raccoons can create. Opossums, known to tear-up an entire lawn in a single night in a destructive search for grubs, might also be repelled by outdoor lighting.
Predators such as coyotes are becoming a significant problem in many urban and suburban areas, posing a growing threat to household pets. Outdoor lights – particularly motion-activated lights – can help keep coyotes away.
And if you happen to live in an area with a panther population, lights may help to discourage unwanted visits from one of these fearsome felines!
Just A Fringe Benefit…
In case you’re wondering…no, outdoor lighting is unlikely to have much effect in repelling one of the most hated of animal intruders: rats; the 4-legged kind, that is. But outdoor lighting is, and always will be, very effective in deterring the most dangerous type of rat: the 2-legged kind!
Ultimately, any animal-repelling assistance you get from your landscape lighting system is really just a fringe benefit. The more mainstream benefits of a landscape lighting system are far more important.
But outdoor lighting will help to keep some unwanted furry intruders away. And that’s certainly a good thing!
For a FREE landscape lighting system estimate, call TLC at 410-721-2342!