By Daniel Rigney
Can furry and feathered woodland creatures flourish in a cool urban ecosystem? We’re here to find out.
We’re reporting to you from pacific Oregon, where my younger son and I are embarked on a dangerous photo-hunting expedition.
We’re going in search of wild animal species loose in the streets of Portland and its environs, tracking rare specimens of exotic fauna in their most unnatural habitat, the post-industrial city.
Call it wildlife sociology.
In case you don’t believe this tale of big city adventure, we're posting a visual record of our sightings. These pictures don’t lie.
The Big Cats
The Sunday Oregonian reports that a cougar (of the four-legged variety) was chased up a tree by a pit bull last week in a nearby Portland suburb. Several other big cats have been spotted (though none were leopards) in the metropolitan area in recent weeks.
These stories strain credulity. I have to see for myself.
I strap on my trusty holstered Canon PowerShot and head into the field in search of urban game. Soon I'm face to face with my first big cat, found prowling outside Portland’s downtown Union Station.
This friendly tiger, representing the Portland Zoo, is here to help Amtrak celebrate National Train Day.
The Salmon-Cuddling Bear
[Correction: The Trout-Cuddling Otter]
As hunter’s luck would have it, our hotel near Portland State University is hosting a self-described nerd convention – a fun-loving menagerie of young creatives calling themselves “Furlandia.” Some are dressed in animal costumes with furry tails. They look like loveable cartoon characters from a Richard Scarry children’s book.
Here we meet (I'll call him) Douglas the Fir Bear [Correction: Mystery Otter], cradling a soft-toy Oregon river salmon [Correction: a plush rainbow trout named Feesh -- see comment below].
This shot is a two-fer, capturing two of the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved creatures in a single image.
The Bronze Elk
As we continue our journey up the totem pole of urban life, we encounter the rare breed shown below, the majestic bronze elk, atop a pedestal on a green street island near Portland’s municipal buildings. The animal seems startled to see us, but stands patient and still for the picture.
Bronze Beavers
Distant relatives of the bronze elk, this family of bronze beavers gathers outside the Oregon state capitol building in Salem, fifty miles south of Portland. I’m surprised they let us get so close without fleeing or attacking us with their unforgiving metal teeth. These urbanized beavers seem accustomed to town dwellers and their clicking and flashing electronic devices.
I snap this picture, and then tiptoe slowly backward and run for my life.
Only later do I learn that beavers rarely attack humans, though the reverse is not true. Turns out I was the dangerous one in this encounter.
Wild Dogs
More fearsome to me than the urban beavers of Oregon are its wild dogs. The specimen shown below, with oversized head and tiny, spindly body, is seen pedalling footlessly across the length of a psychedelic mural in downtown Eugene, Oregon. In a public plaza nearby, a surviving tribe of ‘68-vintage hippies (it was a very good year) enjoys a lively Saturday afternoon drum circle.
Oregon Ducks and Geese
Eugene boasts one of the greenest universities in the land. The University of Oregon’s colors are green (natch) and gold. Its scenic soft-red brick campus is thick with evergreens. Its athletic mascot, "Puddles" the duck (seen here), looks a little like a rubber ducky from Lake Bathtub, or a cartoon of a cartoon of Donald Duck.
Never mistake Puddles for Benny Beaver, Oregon State University’s mascot, who lodges just up the road in Corvallis. You’ll be insulting them both. Don’t watch what happens here when the two get into an extreme wrestling match at a Pac 10 football game.
It seems a bit odd that we should encounter a gaggle of geese walking freely across the campus of a university whose mascot is the duck, but here they are:
We’re warned that these geese can be aggressive, and that they hiss a lot, especially at athletic events.
Sasquatch
A popular local donut shop in Eugene features a life-sized representation of a gray-faced and heavily-furred creature known variously as Sasquatch (in North America), Yeti, and the Abominable Snowman (in Asia). The representation below is allegedly based on Native American descriptions of late 19th-century sightings in the Pacific Northwest.
This well-fed Sasquatch loves the artisanal donuts (bacon and maple, mango tango, Mexican hot chocolate, etc.) on offer here. His tee-shirt reads like a cryptic answer to a zen koan: Where is the magic in a donut?
“The Magic Is In the Hole.”
Scariest Species of All
As frightening as Sasquatch may be to some, we encounter one urban species stranger and more dangerous than Sasquatch and all the other urban creatures combined. I refer, of course, to the species pictured below.
It’s homo sapiens. Tiptoe slowly backward and run for your life.
Danagram
:] I am the walrus.
Readers easily amused by this post may also be amused by "Bayou Diversity in Houston."
Can furry and feathered woodland creatures flourish in a cool urban ecosystem? We’re here to find out.
We’re reporting to you from pacific Oregon, where my younger son and I are embarked on a dangerous photo-hunting expedition.
We’re going in search of wild animal species loose in the streets of Portland and its environs, tracking rare specimens of exotic fauna in their most unnatural habitat, the post-industrial city.
Call it wildlife sociology.
In case you don’t believe this tale of big city adventure, we're posting a visual record of our sightings. These pictures don’t lie.
The Big Cats
The Sunday Oregonian reports that a cougar (of the four-legged variety) was chased up a tree by a pit bull last week in a nearby Portland suburb. Several other big cats have been spotted (though none were leopards) in the metropolitan area in recent weeks.
These stories strain credulity. I have to see for myself.
I strap on my trusty holstered Canon PowerShot and head into the field in search of urban game. Soon I'm face to face with my first big cat, found prowling outside Portland’s downtown Union Station.
This friendly tiger, representing the Portland Zoo, is here to help Amtrak celebrate National Train Day.
The Salmon-Cuddling Bear
[Correction: The Trout-Cuddling Otter]
As hunter’s luck would have it, our hotel near Portland State University is hosting a self-described nerd convention – a fun-loving menagerie of young creatives calling themselves “Furlandia.” Some are dressed in animal costumes with furry tails. They look like loveable cartoon characters from a Richard Scarry children’s book.
Here we meet (I'll call him) Douglas the Fir Bear [Correction: Mystery Otter], cradling a soft-toy Oregon river salmon [Correction: a plush rainbow trout named Feesh -- see comment below].
This shot is a two-fer, capturing two of the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved creatures in a single image.
The Bronze Elk
As we continue our journey up the totem pole of urban life, we encounter the rare breed shown below, the majestic bronze elk, atop a pedestal on a green street island near Portland’s municipal buildings. The animal seems startled to see us, but stands patient and still for the picture.
Bronze Beavers
Distant relatives of the bronze elk, this family of bronze beavers gathers outside the Oregon state capitol building in Salem, fifty miles south of Portland. I’m surprised they let us get so close without fleeing or attacking us with their unforgiving metal teeth. These urbanized beavers seem accustomed to town dwellers and their clicking and flashing electronic devices.
I snap this picture, and then tiptoe slowly backward and run for my life.
Only later do I learn that beavers rarely attack humans, though the reverse is not true. Turns out I was the dangerous one in this encounter.
Wild Dogs
More fearsome to me than the urban beavers of Oregon are its wild dogs. The specimen shown below, with oversized head and tiny, spindly body, is seen pedalling footlessly across the length of a psychedelic mural in downtown Eugene, Oregon. In a public plaza nearby, a surviving tribe of ‘68-vintage hippies (it was a very good year) enjoys a lively Saturday afternoon drum circle.
Oregon Ducks and Geese
Eugene boasts one of the greenest universities in the land. The University of Oregon’s colors are green (natch) and gold. Its scenic soft-red brick campus is thick with evergreens. Its athletic mascot, "Puddles" the duck (seen here), looks a little like a rubber ducky from Lake Bathtub, or a cartoon of a cartoon of Donald Duck.
Never mistake Puddles for Benny Beaver, Oregon State University’s mascot, who lodges just up the road in Corvallis. You’ll be insulting them both. Don’t watch what happens here when the two get into an extreme wrestling match at a Pac 10 football game.
It seems a bit odd that we should encounter a gaggle of geese walking freely across the campus of a university whose mascot is the duck, but here they are:
We’re warned that these geese can be aggressive, and that they hiss a lot, especially at athletic events.
Sasquatch
A popular local donut shop in Eugene features a life-sized representation of a gray-faced and heavily-furred creature known variously as Sasquatch (in North America), Yeti, and the Abominable Snowman (in Asia). The representation below is allegedly based on Native American descriptions of late 19th-century sightings in the Pacific Northwest.
This well-fed Sasquatch loves the artisanal donuts (bacon and maple, mango tango, Mexican hot chocolate, etc.) on offer here. His tee-shirt reads like a cryptic answer to a zen koan: Where is the magic in a donut?
“The Magic Is In the Hole.”
Scariest Species of All
As frightening as Sasquatch may be to some, we encounter one urban species stranger and more dangerous than Sasquatch and all the other urban creatures combined. I refer, of course, to the species pictured below.
It’s homo sapiens. Tiptoe slowly backward and run for your life.
Danagram
:] I am the walrus.
Readers easily amused by this post may also be amused by "Bayou Diversity in Houston."
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