You might think that attacks on urban dwellers in the US were due to people stumbling upon a predator in its own environment at a state park or forest but this isn’t what I’m talking about. What is actually happening is much more prevalent and disturbing. There has been a sharp increase in wild animal attacks at people’s homes in rural communities and suburban areas as well. It’s not necessarily man infringing upon nature as it is nature infringing upon man’s civilized environment.

Just hungry?

In Connecticut a 10 year old boy is attacked by a black bear and nearly dragged off as a wheel chair ridden grandfather watches in horror. All he can do is yell and throws a walking cane at the animal. Luckily a next door neighbor hearing the ruckus intervenes with a metal bar screaming at the bear, who finally runs off. In New Jersey at Harriman State Park a bear attack occurs as a Boy Scout Leader exploring a cave is attacked by a black bear.  Three other scouts with their leader have to contact authorities for help and build a signal fire to guide rescuers. Strange thing is according to a local land owner who has explored the area since his childhood is that with bears in every country of New Jersey they always leave people alone and people leave the bears alone, but not this time. The Boy Scout leaders survives with several non-lethal injuries.

Action to be taken

What kinds of wildlife have been attacking urban property owners? In Ft. Worth, Texas a coyote attacks a 2 year old and west of the city roaming bands of coyotes can be seen and heard day and night. A watch group has been formed to help residents maintain safety and stay protected if out and about and encountering coyotes. This is a recent development as most coyotes rarely confront humans especially in well developed areas, but they are one wild animal that seems to adapt well to human infringement upon their habitat.

In the middle of a bustling city

In Garland, Texas a long creek bed that is covered in a canopy of trees spans the entire north and south corridor not far from Garland Road, a main thoroughfare. Contained in this well secluded strip of creek shore, an arm of the White Rock Creek and Trinity River System is the perfect habitat for coyotes, Bobcats, poisonous snakes, and even cougars. Residents whose backyards border on the creek can expect their dogs even from behind chain link fences to disappear, taken by either coyotes, Bobcats, or perhaps a cougar. The city has preferred to leave the area intact and wild as it is, but there are dangers for nearby residents.

Surprise presence of a killer

Highway 82 that spans an east west corridor between Sherman, Texas and Pottsboro was the scene of a cougar apparently hit by traffic. The thing is that the entire tract of land north and south of that highway is either flat undeveloped acreage with few trees, local farmland, or high priced custom builder home lots. Hardly an area where anyone would expect a full grown cougar to live and apparently feed successfully. I saw the animal myself and pulled over. It was laying on the shoulder, eyes fully open, no sign of blood or injury, but apparently dead. It was a big cat with beautiful eyes, but I wasn’t going to get out of my truck and inspect it up close. I wonder if there had been disappearances of animals or children as cougars are very opportunistic.

Encroachment by sea

On the Florida coast which has coastal sanctuaries traditionally safe for swimmers there have been extremely unlikely attacks by hammerheads, bull sharks, and tiger sharks. Once these waters were virtually devoid of these predators but for some reason they have become hunting grounds for these man eaters. Some theorize it could be changing water temperatures in the Gulf Stream current or perhaps something just offshore attracting the attention of the sharks. Great Whites, as well, have been spotted by Coast Guard helicopter crews monitoring the swimmer shallows. What’s going on? Florida is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist in the same waters. The recent epidemic of Burmese pythons, an invasive species, now have local authorities hiring contract hunters to remove and kill the greenish serpents  being one of the largest snakes in the world.

Shut your door after dark!

In New Mexico due to a drought in 2012 bears were breaking into the cabins located in Canyon areas near Taos and Santa Fe, something that they are not normally bold enough to do. In Colorado Springs bear incidents have become very frequent. A realtor arriving home one evening was groping around trying to find a light switch in his garage when he bumped into a bear that chased him out to his truck on the driveway where he parked. He had just slammed the driver side door shut when the bear’s face was right at the door window roaring!  Others have not been so lucky. Could it be simply lack of rainfall driving black and brown bears into urban areas to forage for trash? The bears have become so adept at this that they have been known to lift overhead garage doors and pull a trash can quietly out of the garage without making a sound or even arousing a dog if it’s inside asleep in the house.

Pull your drapes closed!

A lady was taking a couple of photos of her toddler on the porch in the front of her house. When she developed the film there in the background in broad daylight was a cougar in the yard intently watching yet unnoticed. The child would definitely have been on the big cat’s menu had the mother not been there. From Canada to the northern US homeowners living in forested counties or areas with reservoirs that having a big aggressive dog will not deter cougars! One woman watched in horror as a puma leaped through her large plate glass living room window after her pet cat that it had been watching from outside in the garden.

Big predators all over the place

In South Texas they don’t have pumas, cougars, or panthers. They have mountain lions. Whereas the typical cougar is about 120 pounds the “Mountain Lion” is 200 pounds maybe more depending on how many sheep, goats, or cattle it can predate much to the chagrin of ranch owners. From the wilderness of the Texas panhandle, to Big Bend Park, and south to the Big Thicket bears and cougars manage to hunt and thrive. Where Mexico and Texas border one another jaguars have been migrating from the Yucatan peninsula northward into South Texas. The jaguar pound for pound, is the most powerful of all big cats including lions and tigers though not as big. You can bet that human to big cat encounters will increase as time goes on especially with illegal aliens and drug traffickers active in these areas. This makes it quite possible for this wildlife to venture into bordering communities.

Alaskan killer

A record black bear was shot and killed in Alaska when three hikers disappeared in rapid succession in the immediate area. A local hunter took it upon himself to hunt and perhaps lay a trap for a bear he had no idea would be a literal monster. Armed with an AR-15 long rifle he carefully patrolled the sites of the disappearances. He came along a path where coniferous trees narrowed the trail and to his horror a gigantic bear loomed. Towering some 12 feet above him the gargantuan bear with paws raised came at him. He fired several times before the giant finally succumbed. An AR-15 does not have the stopping power in close quarters that many hunting rifles do have so he was lucky. Many a hunter has died even after inflicting mortal gunshot wounds on a black bear or grizzly as the wounds failed to stop an adrenalized bear from having enough energy left to maul its killer, the unfortunate hunter. After measuring the height and weight of the monster bear, they determined standing flat footed the freak bear would have reached the second story of a cabin.

Biting the hand that feeds you

There are biologists and animal behaviorists concerned over the frequent incidents that have led to mauling’s and deaths as it it seems in a way that wild predators are fighting back against the onslaught of human civilization. In Yellow Stone Park where bears were once fed by hand by tourists and dumpsters were left open and had become a source of easy food for bears, park officials decided to limit distance between bears and humans by cutting off the human food source. In some cases, starving bears in desperation attacked unsuspecting residents in close proximity of national parks as the bears had lost their natural foraging skills and were famished, losing even muscle mass due to starvation. There is a complex puzzle that defines what safe coexistence between wild animals and humans actually is, and abrupt changes can easily affect that balance!