People are afraid of everything now. If you let your kids make their own way to school instead of driving them they may be kidnapped and murdered by the nonces hidden around every corner in your city, but also they may grow up to be independent self-reliant people.

that’s probably in areas where such a yard is the only safe space for wildlife and people don’t live with nature as a daily part of their lives.

I think this is the case. In urban areas you get the rats and such nesting directly in people’s homes because there’s nowhere else for them to be, thanks to the absolute miles of pavement. When I’ve lived in more rural areas you would see a lot of animals all the time, but everyone was pretty much minding their own business. I think habitat destruction is the real problem.