Wildlife in the City

Its just odd to me. The other day on my way home from the mall, there was a dead raccoon in the road. Road meaning 8-lane highway in the middle of the city. What was he thinking?

About a week ago, someone ran into a deer on the beltway. The beltway has an inner and an outer loop and it circles around the city of Washington DC. Just that city. I'm not sure how many lanes each loop has - I just know that it is always snarled. Avoid this area at all costs - especially in the mornings and late afternoons during the week. So where did this deer come from and how did it manage to make its way into the depths of the city onto the beltway? I'm guessing he had little time to re-think his plan.

The coolest "wildlife" in the city are the Canadian Geese. They are lots of places around the city. I even see them in my apartment parking lot sometimes - just wandering around. The funniest thing was the other day when I was on my way to the mall (yes, the mall again. I was returning something.. ok? ) There is a pond and a grassy area by the road. Geese are always there. Traffic came to an abrupt halt as a mother goose escorted her children across the road....oh so slowly. Nobody honked. Nobody rushed her. There was one car in front of me and about 8 behind me. We just patiently waited (surprisingly) and after they had all safely crossed, we went on with our business. No big deal.

Apparentlly wildlife and city folk cannot always co-exist in the same area (exhibit #1 being the raccoon and exhibit #2 being the deer). But there is hope. I'm not sure how the mother goose carried it off, but there might be a lesson there somewhere. It might have something to do with mothers. :)