RobArt Penguin

I like to think because I live in the suburb of a major city, I am safe from wild animals. Certainly, when my wife and I walk our dog, we won’t run into bears, cougars, wolverines, badgers, or wolves, animals that were here in pre-settlement times. We do have a few critters that come out mostly in the late hours: feral cats, raccoons, skunks, and opossums; and we generally feel no fear toward squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and mice. But one evening near dusk, we were surprised to encounter a pair of coyotes. When we saw them, we were about a half block away so we turned to avoid them. They followed us. When we turned the corner, we thought we were safe, but those coyotes cut through the yards and intersected our path. I stood my ground and yelled at them. One was scared away, but the other was not daunted. It was only fifty feet away. Fortunately, a car came by and scared it away too. My wife thinks the coyotes were more interested in our little dog for a snack, but it is the first time I believed a wild animal was tracking me. It was a wake up call of sorts, that I live in nature, which has it’s own ideas about my place in the pecking order. We still walk our dog, but in the light of day.