Invasion of the Critters
Living in the city, particularly here in South Boston, we’ve long ago become accustomed to having squirrels and the occasional chipmunk hanging out in our back yards, seeing them run across the tops of fences and often squawking at us from tree tops and power lines demanding we toss a few treats in their direction. But if you happen to be touring the Green Mountains of Vermont, the White Mountains of New Hampshire of even the Blue Hills of the South Shore, it’s no surprise to see many other types of critters roaming wild and free. In recent years, South Bostonians have noticed growing numbers of raccoons and possums, turkeys and geese taking up residence here and being part of the neighborhood. We’ve learned to accept them as part of the population.
Now the hawks are coming in and filling the gap of the dwindling pigeon population; dwindling we’re told by the influx of hawks. The visits we are getting by coyotes are increasing in number and who can forget the deer that swam in from one of the harbor islands causing hundreds of locals to follow it around taking photos and videos until the Environmental Police caught it and relocated it to the Berkshires. Now the rabbits are turning up all over the neighborhood and the best word to describe them is ‘adorable’. And the consensus seems to be that most locals are enjoying the growing numbers of wildlife sharing the town with us, although most are not too thrilled about the skunks.
Most of we city dwellers are showing a willingness to ‘coexist’ with our new winged and furry neighbors and in many cases enjoy their company. As one of our readers stated “It’s turning into a wild kingdom of sorts around here and I kind of like it. But I just hope the bears aren’t the next species to arrive”. Good point.
