An entire fox family wandered through and frolicked in our backyard. Well, that may be sort of hyperbole, but a couple of days ago, when I got a glimpse from the kitchen window of what I was sure was a fox and, looked out the door to get a better view, I saw fox three pups running and playing on the path to the compost thingy. They were adorable; I was so transfixed, I didn’t even get a picture. Precious Mae was not happy about it but everybody I’ve talked to in the neighborhood is thrilled.

The same afternoon I read a short news flash that a second Cougar had been spotted in Golden Gate Park, after my first reaction of How did that cougar get into Golden Gate park?, I started to wonder how our interactions with wild animals are changing. Because we are no longer killing wildlife, previously shy animals, like cougars, are adjusting and moving back in. In our area, they are being welcomed but not encouraged. I know that’s not universal – sheep farmers are not liking the increase in wolves, for example – but I suspect people feel similar in most places where nature has been thoroughly vanquished.

Still, how we adjust will be interesting, because there are real consequences to letting wild animals into our neighborhoods and, while I’m thrilled that it’s happening, I don’t think we’ve really thought this out. I once read that Racoons don’t become tame, they become brazen and I’m sure that is even more true for a large carnivore like a cougar. Lately, I’ve been listening to On The Media podcasts and one of them talked about how much the car industry influenced our National Thinking and the subtle but toxic belief that’s what’s good for people rich enough to own cars, almost always white, is better for the nation. That’s our default position. Our mindset has been that when we pay for public transportation we are subsidizing it but we never hear that about highways even though we spend much more subsidizing highways and the fuel cars use to drive on them. We take that mindset with us when we think about letting cougars in. When we think of potential problems, we think about them getting cats or small dogs, but we don’t think about it from the point of view of a poor person who can’t afford a car and often has to wait at a bus stop in the dark.