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Foxes and raccoons
Jan. 4th, 2019 07:31 pmToday I watched a nature show about the red fox, which apparently has become commonplace in British cities. In Bristol, some 70-80% of food eaten by the local foxes is set out for them by the people there, who like having wildlife in their gardens - they showed one woman putting out fresh sausages for "two to three hours" every evening. Then they said that there are 40-60 adult foxes in some urban area... per square kilometer! I was shocked!
Then I got to thinking about raccoons, which are in a similar niche here (and apparently Britain is spared the raccoon, whereas our foxes stay in the woods and I've never seen one). Using Google Maps, I figured that the housing density in my neighborhood is about 600 homes per square kilometer, so that's only one raccoon per 10 households. Since they travel about in packs of 2-4, that seems entirely reasonable. I had two on my doorstep a couple of nights ago, attempting to get into the food bin for the porch-cats.
Then I got to thinking about raccoons, which are in a similar niche here (and apparently Britain is spared the raccoon, whereas our foxes stay in the woods and I've never seen one). Using Google Maps, I figured that the housing density in my neighborhood is about 600 homes per square kilometer, so that's only one raccoon per 10 households. Since they travel about in packs of 2-4, that seems entirely reasonable. I had two on my doorstep a couple of nights ago, attempting to get into the food bin for the porch-cats.