Lions and Tigers and Coyotes, OH MY!

A couple of years back, I spied a coyote basking in the sun against a hillside along a busy highway (Route 28) on my way home from work. Since then I have seen a prominent coyote den located on an embankment about two miles or so away along another major road (Muddy Branch Hwy). And now it seems that they are stalking my own neighborhood on the cusp of Washington, D.C. with a valid citing tis past week just a block away.

And why not? The night around here is a very busy place. There are mice, rats, opossums, raccoons, and in the day, deer, fox, squirrels, and ground hogs. Even though I live in the middle of approximately 2 million other people, the presence/prevalence of trees and parks and streams has led to a flourishing of wildlife. Without the killing that used to accompany humans in the forms of hunting for survival and then hunting for sport, the wildlife around here is practically domesticated. Except for the mess they make of gardens and trash cans, they are also mostly ignored.

Recently the Department of the Interior reintroduced Elk to western Maryland's Appalachian Mountains. So how many years before they are also eating my tulips!?