Wildlife in the city

On my way home, just after midnight, I saw glowing eyes in the alley.  I thought it was a cat, but as I got closer, I saw that it was a large adult opossum.

I sat in the car, waiting for it to move.  When it turned to walk away, it was clear it had been injured in the past; it had a strange, draggy motion to its rear legs.  But it looked to be in good shape, otherwise.

It had teeth I would not want to gain any experience of!

Those teeth are impressive! I work in a large city, and it always amazes me to see foxes and birds of prey downtown. I've never forgotten seeing a fox waiting at a pedestrian crossing during rush hour on my way to work a few years ago. It was pretty surreal. :lol3:

I see coyotes up and down our alleys all the time.  They are hunting cats and little dogs, among other things.  The possum, for one.  My guess would be he was grabbed by a coyote and fought it off but had an injury.
 

:lol3: We have a gaggle of ferals outside my apartment that live in the woods. One night I went out to feed them and a possum ran back into the woods when I came around the corner. Another time, I set out their kibble and sat down to watch them eat, and a raccoon came up to eat some too! The cats didn't realize it was a raccoon at first, but once they looked up they hissed at him and he ran off. He startled me too, and I ended up saying out loud, "You are not a kitty!"

my husband smokes outside , and came in in rather a hurry one night.....he'd been petting a cute little fuzzy that came up close(we have a few cat ladies, and by extension a number of half-feral) and looked down to realize that his  kitten....WAS A SKUNK! funny thing is, it must have liked him, because it  still comes round and never lift it's tail at him, 4 years later lol

There was a good show on PBS about raccoons that live in the city.  They have regular territories and routines just like country ones.

Most of the live wild animals I've seen have been in town :tongue2:. Raccoons digging in front yards, who duck into the storm drains when I go by, possums eating my cat food, a fox running across the street by the park, etc. And, once, a young whitetail buck in full velvet grazing among my neighbor's trees! Out in the country they're usually hiding in a cornfield or shelterbelt so I never see them.

Lately here on Long Island.. Alligators has been appearing. 4 found in 5 days. I am sure it's the black market or something, but still, it's an usual find around here!

This is aside from possums, deer and raccoons.

We live in suburbia, in a very large development, bordered by woods.  It still amazes me to see deer in the common area (and they've damaged our fence, and regularly come onto the deck to eat my potted leaf lettuce).  We have a bobcat; I've only heard it, though.  Every few months, and only on Sunday nights, I hear a fox that sounds as if it's under our bedroom window, near the street.  Our next-door neighbor's cat was seen being chased by a fox, and once came home with puncture wounds.

A couple of months ago, I heard my first screech owl out back. I haven't heard it since--only 2 nights in a row. We did once have a Great Horned Owl, but I haven't heard one for over a year now. I miss that. When I lived with my Mom, I always heard them when I was drifting off to sleep. I found it soothing.

Matts mom said:

my husband smokes outside , and came in in rather a hurry one night.....he'd been petting a cute little fuzzy that came up close(we have a few cat ladies, and by extension a number of half-feral) and looked down to realize that his  kitten....WAS A SKUNK! funny thing is, it must have liked him, because it  still comes round and never lift it's tail at him, 4 years later lol

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I've heard people who had this experience before.  One person was just sitting on his porch, felt what he thought was his cat rub against him, and started petting it...until he realized it was a skunk.

I saw what I thought was a black plastic bag blowing across our warehouse lot last week.  I went to check it out and discovered it was a little skunk chasing down and eating the bugs falling from the lights (it was the middle of the night).

When I lived right in the middle of town, clost to all the businesses, I had all kinds of wildlife in my yard. There was a family of deer, opussums, racoons, and a little red fox that would sit at the edge of the yard and watch me leave for work. Those were just the ones I had seen, surely thee must have been more.

mrblanche said:

I've heard people who had this experience before.  One person was just sitting on his porch, felt what he thought was his cat rub against him, and started petting it...until he realized it was a skunk.

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When DH and I were still living "in town", we came home one summer night and there were "kitten" playing around my car (we were cabbing it that night). I was feeling pretty good, and decided I wanted to play with them so I squatted down and started the baby talking thing and they started coming up to me. I will thrilled! Then DH said "Ummm....honey? Those aren't kitties. Stand up slowly and lets go in the house." What he saw and I didn't was Mama skunk was watching a few yards away and she wasn't very happy! We saw them off and on all summer but we never smelled anything. We figured live and let live. The ironic thing was, I guess the same family found a hole into our "basement" (dirt crawl space big enough for the furnace which was attached to the grate in the living room floor). The first night it was cold enough to turn the furnace on we did. If anyone has ever had heat live that there are a few clicks then a whoosh when the gas goes one. We hear the whoosh...then a loud hiss...then the sweet aroma of skunk came up with the heat. In 2 minutes our entire house stunk of skunk! I guess the sound scared them and they let us know. It was a fun night!

I live in the country now, but when I was growing up "in town" we still saw lots of wildlife. I have to explain "in town" is...it is definitely not a big city, but a decent size town surrounded by mountains and forests so you don't have far to go to find anything wild. A lot of the area is undeveloped so there is still a lot of  wooded area even in town. 

I remember one day walking to school, I was probably 10 or 11, and a deer went running by me, crossed the street, and ran down the other side. I told people at school and they thought I made it up until the teacher heard that a deer broke through one of the store windows downtown. Apparently something spooked it and it just ran. But deer are common in town and you have to be more careful driving in town late at night then on the highway.

A few months ago, a black bear wandered into our downtown mall and decided to take a bath in one of the fountains on the mall.

I love seeing wildlife unexpectedly (well I could do without the alligators and bears!).
One time I was driving down what is now a very busy main road when they were just starting to develop that area of town. I saw a coyote standing on a hill watching the machines and people below as they starting encroaching on his territory. Made me very sad.

This article is perfect for this thread: Coyotes, bears, and lions: the new urban pioneers?

New research suggests mountain lions and bears may be following the urban pioneering of raccoons, foxes and, most notably, coyotes as they slowly encroach on major US metro areas from New Jersey to California. In the case of coyotes, they don’t even mind the density, with some coyote packs now confining themselves to territories of a third of a square mile.

“The coyote is the test case for other animals,” Ohio State University biologist Stan Gehrt told EcoSummit 2012 conference on Friday in Columbus, Ohio. “We’re finding that these animals are much more flexible than we gave them credit for and they’re adjusting to our cities. That’s going to put the burden back on us: Are we going to be able to adjust to them living with us or are we not going to be able to coexist?”

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This one, too: Urban coyotes could be setting the stage for larger carnivores to move into cities

Since the tracking of urban coyotes began in 2000, Gehrt and his team have captured and placed radio collars on about 680 coyotes, with 50 or 60 being tracked at any one time. He estimates that about 2,000 coyotes live in the Chicago metro area, along with 9 million people in some 250 separate municipalities.

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A friend was recently checking out places to hunt, and came across a carolina panther, or what he thought was. I thought they were extinct, but have since read that they were just very rare. He said it was beautiful, but terrifying, so he went across the river to look for a place to hunt.
 

krazy kat2 said:

A friend was recently checking out places to hunt, and came across a carolina panther, or what he thought was. I thought they were extinct, but have since read that they were just very rare. He said it was beautiful, but terrifying, so he went across the river to look for a place to hunt.
 

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That's good, because the panther was probably looking for something to hunt, too.  Unless he was carrying a big gun, my money would be on the panther.  Just imagine your housecat 20 times the weight.

I haven't seen them, but I my neighbor says he saw a Coyote across the street.  I have heard them.  My sister's neighbor's dog has had two encounters with skunks.

Tricia's link is so very true and is happening here in the Chicago area. Believe it or not, COUGARS. Not just one but quite a few have been spotted in the burbs and it has been all over the news. A few small dogs have been preyed upon. We also have many coyote roaming about.

Feralvr said:

Tricia's link is so very true and is happening here in the Chicago area. Believe it or not, COUGARS. Not just one but quite a few have been spotted in the burbs and it has been all over the news.

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That's great! The US cougar is a seriously endangered species, and it warms my heart to hear stories about them. I saw a Florida panther (subspecies) at the zoo a few weeks back and it was a seriously awesome animal.

speakhandsforme said:

That's great! The US cougar is a seriously endangered species, and it warms my heart to hear stories about them. I saw a Florida panther (subspecies) at the zoo a few weeks back and it was a seriously awesome animal.

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Are they really endangered everywhere, or just in some places? In this state there's a hunting season for them and they're allowing 100 to be taken next season. Seems high for an endangered species.