I am currently reading this book about the five large carnivores of Scandinavia and I am absolutely humbled, both by finding out how little I knew about them, what prejudice I had against them and how people that live in close proximity to them can both love, respect and be angry with them at the same time. I am reading the original release in Swedish.
- What have you encountered in the wild?
- When, where, how?
- What were your initial thoughts, feelings and reactions (physical, psychological, etc.)?
- What do think of them in general? <— this last question applies to everybody, regardless of whether you have seen or met one of these large carnivores or not.
Personally, without having met any one of them, I am humbled, scared, amazed and intrigued by them. I feel for those whose - for instance - livestock are threatened by them, especially if it directly damages business. I also strongly believe that the matter should not be dumbed down to the dichotmy of “ignore those that suffer from them” or “eradicate them”. We are far too intelligent and developed a race to degrade ourselves so.
Whenever I’ve seen a fox it’s always been through a window or, vaguely, possibly, at a significant distance.
Memories are blurry and I’ve been in vehicles and houses in the same places I’ve seen foxes. It’s possible I was outside on foot for at least one of those.
On the other hand, I could bend “wild” the other way and think about the handful of scary dog encounters I’ve had. Never been near enough to a fox to give it the remotest reason to attack. Those dogs were a different matter.