"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

Snip a lot of good stuff in the interest of space

Wolves in southeastern Wisconsin seemed like a highly improbable scenario
just a few years ago. Now.......?

Wolfgang

Perhaps I should have been more specific when I said keep their distance,on
a regular basis. as I meant avoiding direct contact rather than physical
distance. And I was only applying that to the parts of the inland west
where they are still purposely killed.

Recent human encroachment on their habitat, though a convenient theory ,
may not answer why so many species of wildlife that heretofore studiously
avoided populated areas are now a common occurrance in populated areas. I
live in a town of only 12,000 people, but while the population of the town
and the entire county (bigger in area than some Eastern states) has been
quite stable for the last 50 years and is in fact less than it was in 1900,
wildlife sightings in town have increased markedly in the last 20 years or
so. The part of town that I live in was established prior to the
transcontinental railroad coming through, and was the downtown area until
downtown moved to be nearer the depot. Altough my house is only on a 1/3
acre lot, I now commonly have deer bedded in my back yard. A neighbor a
block away had a cougar kill a deer in his yard a few years ago. Bear are
now common visitors in the fall in any year with a poor wild berry crop.
People in town now need to be sure to keep their small dogs and their cats
in at night if they don't want them taken by coyotes or cougar. Three years
ago we had a moose (which are not historically native to Oregon , but are
recently becoming established in this and our neighboring county to the
North - apparently from migrants from Idaho) walk down our street. And in
the last few years I have to be especially vigilant to not hit elk at night
at the west entrance to town.

I believe the prime reason for much of the increased interaction with
wildlife in populated areas is the change in our culture from one in which
anything that was edible (and many that aren't) was killed, and the long
time frame it took wildlife to respond to that change in culture and adapt
to human concentrations

BTW, if the relationship between coyotes and wolves there is anything like
it is here, expect to see a drastic reduction in the coyote population as
the wolf population increases.

Bob Weinberger