Unlike forests and jungles, cities filled with concrete buildings aren’t really the best environment for wild animals. At least not until you take into account all the pros and cons. This whole time it was us, humans, who invaded their homes, and now it’s time to pay for our audacity.
Here are eight examples where wild animals invaded our cities.
1. Leopards in Mumbai
According to the recent sightings, at least 47 leopards are hiding in parks and forested areas. You may think, “eh, there are over 20 million people living in Mumbai, so who cares?” As it turns out, the murder kitties don’t really care for humans and prefer hunting dogs and occasional pigs. But just in case, you shouldn’t hang out alone at night.
2. Bears in Aspen
You may think that bears are dumb and clumsy creatures, but they’re actually smart enough to figure out how to open trash bins, climb balconies, and even get inside cars and apartments. Yes, they can break into your house and eat your cold pizza from the fridge! The bears are so fearless, they just stroll down the street and eat whatever they want. Some break into cars in search of food and mess up the vehicle from the inside.
3. Pythons in Bangkok Sewers
Bangkok is a sprawling Megapolis with millions of people living inside their fancy skyscrapers, not giving a hoot about anything. That is, of course, until 7-foot pythons start crawling out of their toilets. The sewers are warm, moist, and, most importantly, full of juicy rats, so the snakes have made their choice. Jungles are for losers anyway, right?
4. Hyenas in Harar
When people think of hyenas, they usually go back in their mind to those goofy Disney versions from the Lion King until they remember that these things are killing machines capable of ripping and tearing a buffalo to pieces in mere hours. So you can imagine how dangerous it would be to have these beasts around kids and the elderly, especially after taking into account they’re pack hunters. You would literally stand no chance against them. Lucky for the citizens of Harar, they’ve managed to nigh-domesticate the hyenas by regularly feeding them bones and meat. They’re just puppies. Very edgy, potentially murderous puppies.
5. Baboons in Cape Town
Monkeys are not cute, nor are they cool to hang out with. They’re mean and vile creatures that want only two things – food and see humans suffer. These Cape Town baboons are masters at doing both at the same time. They’ll snag your purse, bag, backpack, get inside your car, pull your hair, scream at your face for not having anything edible, and some will even throw poop at you. All that inside the city. Fantastic!
6. Raccoons in Toronto
Unlike monkeys, these rascals are cute without a doubt, but they’re still a menace. They’re smart, almost invisible at night time, and they breed like rabbits. If it wasn’t for our trash cans and random food left in the backyards, raccoons would probably keep munching on bugs and roots somewhere in the forest. But you know what they say: once you’ve tried pizza, you won’t go back to the boring old larvae. Yuck!
7. Seagulls in Spain
Loud, annoying, always hungry rats of the sky – of course, we’re talking about seagulls. They always gather around food, and getting (or rather stealing) scraps from people in the city is ten times easier than actually hunting for small fish in the ocean. Naturally, these feathered thieves prefer sticking to the concrete jungle. And just wait until you see the flocks of birds scavenging the garbage mountains full of delicious rotten fruits, week-old leftovers, and everything that comes with it. There’s also a positive side to this: some species like the stork have bounced back from the brink of extinction thanks to our trash piles.
8. Cockatoos in Sydney
Continuing our trend of “rogue” animals, let’s talk about parrots, specifically the Australian cockatoos. You’ve seen them on YouTube doing funny noises, imitating people’s voices, and headbanging to Cannibal Corpse, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that these aviary bandits are incredibly intelligent creatures. So much so that opening trash bins and windows are not a big deal for them. Some researchers claim that their IQ is equal to that of a 4-year-old child, and we all know how chaotic kids can be. You see, the birds aren’t just looking for food, they intentionally rip and tear through anything their beak can reach because they are the a-holes of the animal kingdom. But they’re too cute for us to be mad at their shenanigans.
