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A year ago I was camped by a lake on the US/Canada border. A large otter popped up not ten feet away and casually cleaned its fur, dropped down to grab somethin
by germinalphrase 9y ago
A year ago I was camped by a lake on the US/Canada border. A large otter popped up not ten feet away and casually cleaned its fur, dropped down to grab something to munch on from the lake bottom. Obviously, it's a less intimidating encounter - but I had a similar thought at the time: people don't see large and/or rare animals outside of zoos. That has to affect the appreciation of natural spaces and the public's desire to preserve the ability of complex systems of wildlife to live within them.
- 52-6F-62 9y agoI had the fortune of growing up in a sparsely-populated, rural part of Southern Ontario. I didn't think so at the time, but looking back I almost envy my younger self. Whenever you went swimming in a creek or river that wasn't Lake Erie, and the water wasn't rushing too quickly at that spot you had to be damned careful about snapping turtles. There were also a lot of beavers. Coyotes could be dangerous if they got hungry, but usually ran away. You'd hear of the odd wolf venturing down, but that was not common -- too many farms. There was a large population of deer. I always joke about the county fair we had down there, too. I like to say that's where I milked my first goat. Which is true... but it was also, thankfully, my last.