Gardener shares disturbing photo after backyard fix goes wrong for local wildlife: 'This stuff is just too dangerous'

Gardeners spend a lot of time making their yards just the way they want them and often use protective measures to defend against outside influences. But even the best of intentions can backfire.

One Redditor found this out the hard way. Posting to the r/gardening subreddit, they shared a photo of an owl that had gotten stuck in their bed netting.

The original poster likely used bed netting the way that most gardeners do — to keep pests away from their plants. However, the downside of netting is that it doesn't discriminate, meaning it can also ensnare cute creatures such as this owl.

"Poor guy. Rescue is on the way fortunately. Think this netting has to go," the OP wrote.

If you find that specialized gardening treatments such as bed netting are not proving as beneficial as you'd like, it may be better to keep things simple. One way to do that is by introducing native plants. A natural lawn can save you time and money on maintenance and can lower your water bills.

It can also create a healthier ecosystem for pollinators, which ultimately benefits everyone, as pollinators protect our food supply. Even a partial lawn replacement can provide these benefits.

Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City?

Commenters felt bad for the owl and agreed that the netting should go.

"This stuff is just too dangerous for wildlife," one Redditor wrote. "Like everyone else I only used it my first year but I had to cut out tons of birds and some snakes."

"I use coated chicken wire to prevent this," a top comment suggested. "Most hardware stores sell it by the roll. Good on you for calling rescue, I'm sure it'll be just fine albeit peeved."

"Similar thing happened to me, I never used netting again," read another response.