At this time of year, it's not unusual to find ants in your pantry or beetles in your basement. While our fear of creepy crawlies can drive us to want to kill, kill, kill, before you reach for the bug spray or rolled-up newspaper, consider that such lethal methods are both cruel and ineffective. We can — and should — resolve conflicts with troublesome bugs humanely.
I'm not saying you should live with flies in your fruit bowl. But get over the idea that you can ever be completely bug free. “What most of us don't know is that our homes are filled with a profusion of insects and their relatives, collectively called arthropods, most of which we never see,” says entomologist Nancy L. Brill.
As she describes in a recent New York Times commentary, she and her colleagues from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences collected more than 10,000 specimens of insects, dead and alive, in just 50 houses in the Raleigh, N.C., area.
As many as 100 or more different species of arthropods were often found under a single roof — spiders, stink bugs, moths, millipedes, gnats, ants, book lice (which harmlessly munch mildew from old paper), dust mites and more. Residents of many of the homes studied sprayed regularly to kill bugs, yet “no homes were bug free. Far from it,” Brill says.
The good news is that most of these bugs are benign, some even beneficial. But “useful” or not, insects play a vital role in the larger ecosystem, and killing them off (if that were even possible) would have far-reaching consequences.
Consider the much-maligned cockroach. Some species of roaches are pollinators. Others are important food sources for birds and small mammals.
Insects are also smarter than most of us give them credit for — and may be able to feel pain. Ants use “math” to find the fastest path from one point to another. Some social spiders living in colonies are shy; others are more aggressive. One study found ants and other insects have the same chemical known to transmit pain in humans.
The toxic chemicals that kill bugs can also harm us, so try kinder methods of coping.
To repel flies, hang clusters of cloves or leave out an orange peel. Squeeze lemon juice along ants' entry point — they won't cross over it. Cockroaches are opportunistic, so seal food in airtight containers and remove hiding places (such as piles of papers), then scatter bay leaves or catnip to repel them. Mosquitoes dislike the smell of basil plants.
All beings, no matter how small, are connected in a circle of life. Let's include them in our circle of compassion as well.
Paula Moore is a senior writer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' PETA Foundation.
