I find it funny when people talking about living in the country and how you're so close to nature and how "you can't get that in the city". Riiight. Ottawa might be a big city in Canadian standards, but it's really small with lots of green space. That's a good thing.
On my bike ride home today I had a fox dash out 15' in front of me. Yes, you can probably argue that it was a country fox because it clearly did not ding a bell while on the path and it looked like it was breaking the 20 kph speed limit as well. But my guess is that it's just an bad-ass city fox. You know the kind: no reflectors, no paw signals when turning, no helmet.
I think that I've seen a lot more wildlife living in the city than I ever did in the country. I don't think that means that there is more wildlife in the city, I just think that I'm in a better position to see it. When living in the country, everything so was far away that you had to drive anywhere to see it. While living in the city I travel by bike or walking. Slower, quieter, in more green spaces and less in areas where animals probably call corridors of death.
To counteract the people who talk down about living in the city, I've been practicing looking down my nose and my sneer. Honestly it's not been going so well... it's hard to do that and avoid running over small animals.
I have to say I see way more wildlife in Ottawa than I ever saw in northern Ontario. I think there's a couple factors at play here. Firstly in the country, the wildlife has a lot nore places to go, and therefore stays in the vast amounts of forest. Also with so few people, the animals tend to be a lot more timid, and generally just stay away fro people. The ones in the city are much more used to people, and donVt run off as fast.
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