Take thirty seconds and roll up the soccer net in the backyard. It's a quiet killer.
An owl crossing the yard at night doesn't see the netting and hits it at speed. Wildlife rescues find them wrapped up like a burrito, if they're found in time at all. A groundhog turned up tangled in a backyard soccer net just last fall.
Loose garden and fruit netting does the same thing, snagging birds by the leg or wing and leaving them to starve, and groups like the RSPCA get called to it constantly.
The worst offender hides in plain sight every October: fake Halloween cobwebs. Stretched across a bush, that stringy webbing is strong enough to ensnare a screech owl, and it catches hummingbirds, bats, and birds all season.
The fixes are all easy. Roll up or take down sports nets when nobody's using them. Pull any netting you keep up drum-tight, and check it morning and night. And skip the fake cobwebs outdoors, because nothing alive benefits from them.
Loose netting is one of the few backyard hazards that kills for no reason at all. Yours can stop today.