This morning I found an 8-inch critter in my office. He appears to be a San Diego alligator lizard.

I’m leaving him here. He’s cute, and eats bugs — what’s not to like? Besides, he runs behind the credenza when I approach, so it would be a production to get rid of him.

In doing so, I resist a longstanding urge to exercise too much control over my environment. Why not let a few autonomous creatures do their thing?

At home it’s the same: we let funnel web spiders set up in the lower corners of all our windows. This keeps the mosquitoes and ants down, makes our house look haunted, and convinces our neighbors we’re insane. Again, what’s not to like?

Some animals are threats, but others are opportunities. These actually save us effort, spread no disease, and are organic substitutes for pesticide. No-brainer.

If the invited pests grow too numerous, just move up the food chain.  I’ve been thinking of bringing an alligator lizard home to control the funnel web spiders…