Chat
12-30-2013, 07:11 AM
Padlocks are a good deterrent for thieves who forgot to bring their bolt cutters, and a great way to keep out more innocent break-ins, such as kids who just want to feed or play with your goats. When I was five or six years old I got into my neighbor's chicken coop and fed the poor things half a bag of feed out of their own shed because I thought they looked hungry. A lock would have prevented such a thing. Ignorant people can be just as dangerous to animals as malicious ones.
I was thinking security cameras too. But for them to be preventive and not just something where you'll watch replays of shadowy figures making off with your goats, you'll need to put up signage so people know they're being recorded. Some people put up signs about surveillance and then make "dummy" security cameras. This is a pretty cheap way to spook most would-be thieves into looking for a safer target.
Another idea might be motion-sensing lights in your driveway. Of course, if you have a lot of wildlife roaming around, your neighbors might think you installed an outdoor disco. But I'm sure you could adjust it so it only detects big things and not every skunk and stray cat that walks through the place.
Of course, my husband has always been obsessed with booby traps. You know... spike pits, moats filled with hungry alligators and sharks, some nets and poison dart triggers. I sometimes wonder if this is the real reason why we have Cuzco... if we chained him to the porch we'd never have to worry about unwelcome guests! (Or welcome ones either, for that matter.)
I was thinking security cameras too. But for them to be preventive and not just something where you'll watch replays of shadowy figures making off with your goats, you'll need to put up signage so people know they're being recorded. Some people put up signs about surveillance and then make "dummy" security cameras. This is a pretty cheap way to spook most would-be thieves into looking for a safer target.
Another idea might be motion-sensing lights in your driveway. Of course, if you have a lot of wildlife roaming around, your neighbors might think you installed an outdoor disco. But I'm sure you could adjust it so it only detects big things and not every skunk and stray cat that walks through the place.
Of course, my husband has always been obsessed with booby traps. You know... spike pits, moats filled with hungry alligators and sharks, some nets and poison dart triggers. I sometimes wonder if this is the real reason why we have Cuzco... if we chained him to the porch we'd never have to worry about unwelcome guests! (Or welcome ones either, for that matter.)