# In London we have urban foxes. What urban animals do you have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 25, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886 "2003-01-25T18:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/61 "2003-01-26T18:53:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dorkusmalorkusmafia \* > \*\*Wowie, I wasn’t aware of raccoons living in England. It is true, you learn something new everyday. We also have the odd raven (think a very large, overgrown crow…and I mean very large) among other evil birds. \*\* Germany is overrun with raccoons. They were brought over in a fur-farming scheme, & got released. Now they’re everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/62 "2003-01-26T20:16:45Z")
Animals I have seen in the Greater Portland area (including Beaverton, Vancouver (Where I actually live) and Gresham) I have seen… dozens of squirrels and possums, rabbits, snakes, cranes, a bald eagle, coyotes (In fact, where I work now I can see across a field, and see coyotes in there runnin’ around every day), nutria, ducks, racoons, deer and I even saw a Beaver in the Willamette in downtown Portland. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/63 "2003-01-26T21:48:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dorkusmalorkusmafia \* > \*\*Wowie, I wasn’t aware of raccoons living in England. It is true, you learn something new everyday. We also have the odd raven (think a very large, overgrown crow…and I mean very large) among other evil birds. \*\* We don’t have wild raccoons in the UK. I presume **amarone** just meant that most British people would know what one looked like from those we’ve seen on TV and in zoos. You might find [this raccoon story](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_550224.html) amusing though. Most British people would know what a coyote is too but we don’t have them outside zoos either. The only ravens I’m aware of in London are the captive ones that live at the Tower of London, but there are wild ones in my home town of Liverpool. There are peregrine falcons there too. There are plenty of stories of feral pumas and other big cats loose in rural parts of the UK; all are released pets or escapees. We have a problem with released mink too. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/64 "2003-01-26T21:53:17Z")
We’ve got hedgehogs. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/65 "2003-01-26T22:21:19Z")
[sub]They’re quite prickly.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Bee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Larry\_Bee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Bee)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2003, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/66 "2003-01-26T22:37:38Z")
We had a hedgehog in our front garden for a couple of years ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/67 "2003-01-27T00:01:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*We don’t have wild raccoons in the UK. I presume **amarone** just meant that most British people would know what one looked like from those we’ve seen on TV and in zoos. \*\* Correct. I didn’t mean to suggest that there are wild raccoons in England. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/68 "2003-01-27T03:29:44Z")
Well, aside from the random black bear, moose and mountain lion . . . “Helena proper can boast at least 300 head of deer, of which 50 are killed by motor vehicle accidents each year. Of course, another 70 are born each year.” This is a town of 40,000 people, spread over about 3 miles by 10 miles. We’ve learned to watch for deer around the state capitol building, which has great flowers. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/69 "2003-01-27T03:41:38Z")
While growing up in Indy, racoons were everywhere. Out here in SoCal, it’s opossum, coyote, crow, and the unfortunate occasional black bear. The ground squirrels are major sucks, too. ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/70 "2003-01-27T04:03:47Z")
We have a big black mouse who wears red shorts and white gloves and lives in a castle. 😃 Other than that, just your ordinary gators, black bears, ospreys, racoons, possums, bunnies, various cranes and egrets, in fact, all manner of urban runners, flyers and slitherers. Oh, and Ronincyberpunk, I think those are called Fox squirrels. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/71 "2003-01-27T05:03:22Z")
We have squirrels up the wazoo here. Every morning at dawn I hear a half dozen of them running back and forth across the roof untill it sounds like its’ raining rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/72 "2003-01-27T05:43:15Z")
Why, down here we have kangaroos literally hopping down the streets. The large ones, you can catch and hitch a ride in their pouches. Now the bunyips and the dropbears, they’re a much shyer brand of beast. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/73 "2003-01-27T05:59:45Z")
Welp, every so often, a bear wanders down Main Street in White Plains. Which is a decent sized city. Not to mention the deer, turkeys, and suchlike. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/74 "2003-01-27T06:34:59Z")
Now I see I completely forgot to mention raccoons - they’re present and accounted for in this neck of the woods. Smiling eyes. Harumph! ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/75 "2003-01-27T06:51:43Z")
You can even make friends with one; but, unlike a cat, it will always remain wild. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/76 "2003-01-27T07:43:59Z")
Rattlesnakes, Gopher, Red Racer, King, Bull snakes.(seldom) Turkey Vultures (outstanding at soaring)(often) Coyotes quite regularly. Tarantulas(seasonal during their migration) Tarantula wasp. (beautiful iridescent blue and orange wasp that paralyzes the tarantula but doesn’t kill it, lays an egg in the spider so the larva will have food to develop - just part of the Intelligent Design, folks)(seldom) Black Widow(always) Bobcats (seldom) Kit Fox (seldom) Snow Geese in winter. (all over the place eating and messing up lawns) Scorpion (the kind that hurt like hell but don’t kill - usually)(seldom) I don’t know if ants count but I maintain that there is a greater weight of ants on the desert than any other single animal type.(always in summer) Probably some others that I haven’t seen or heard about. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/77 "2003-01-27T07:56:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by booklover \* > \*\*Not to mention all the freakin’ huge rats in DC–no, I’m not talking about the politicians. Those suckers are fearless and disgusting. \*\* The politicians or the rats? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/78 "2003-01-27T07:58:55Z")
Technically, Tokyo extends into the western mountains, but in the downtown area pretty much al we’ve got are crows. Big, smart, aggressive crows. Everywhere. Getting rid of them will require convincing 25 million people to start putting their trash in bins that can be securely fastened shut. Lotsa luck. We had a tiger attack in the suburbs, but that was some moron keeping one for his filming work. A monkey wandered downtown from the hills a couple of years ago and kept the police busy for about three weeks as ran around the Roppongi neighborhood (even the monkeys know where the action is, apparently). It was finally caught by one of workers at the American Club who tossed a banana into a toolshed. Oh, yeah, there’s also an arctic seal that’s been hanging around in the rivers here for the past few months. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/79 "2003-01-27T10:33:40Z")
Stockholm here: apart from rats (both mammalian and avian (read pigeons!)) the town is infested with rabbits and roe deer. There are a number of birds of pray and one day the other year some hawk was munching away on a pigeon just outside my office window. The occasional elk can be seen in peoples’ gardens and last year a wolf was spotted as it trotted through town. Last week I read in the paper that there are evidence that there are beavers here. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886/80 "2003-01-27T11:53:13Z")
London Animals (not a complete list probably) Foxes Squirrels Rats Mice (especially the ones that live on the underground) Rabbits (on wimbledon common etc) Feral cats Wombles Wanstead cows. Dinosaurs in Crystal palace park (this is why they think south Norwood is wild) THere was a golden eagle that escaped in the 60s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-london-we-have-urban-foxes-what-urban-animals-do-you-have/150886.md?page=5)