Farm Fauna - 2025 Edition

The first time I installed camera traps on our farm, they revealed an astonishing level of wildlife activity. Sadly, in the 6–8 years I’ve been monitoring the fauna here, I’ve noticed a discernible decline in sightings, mostly due to increased human activity. City folks bought up the surrounding land—especially during the pandemic—and what was once a contiguous habitat has become fragmented by the proliferation of hard fences.

I still follow my evening ritual of setting up camera traps in places frequented by animals, but these days, I’m prepared for empty pickings in the morning. This February, however, brought a surprise. Our resident leopard is still on the prowl, and judging by its appearance, it seems fairly well-fed.

Another animal caught on camera this month was an even bigger surprise. We store coconuts under one of the mango trees, and rarely does anything go missing. But over the past month, we noticed a few coconuts disappearing and assumed they were stolen. It left us a little unsettled since theft is uncommon in these parts. I had hidden a camera trap in the trees to gather evidence. This morning, when I reviewed the footage, the culprit turned out to be a porcupine—the first one ever captured by my camera traps.