Everyone expects to see bears, deer, and other assorted forest animals if you were in say… a forest, but more and more often we are finding these animals moving into urban areas in the Twin Cities. A few weeks ago, the Minnesota DNR shot a black bear that had found it’s way into the Frogtown neighborhood. Apparently it’s now called the “Thomas-Dale neighborhood”, but the point that it is miles from wilderness in any direction seems to be the most concerning point.

The instance in my life that brought this topic up is that the wife and I saw a deer that had been hit by a car in the West Side of St. Paul on Smith Avenue. To be fair, it is much closer to the green way along the river, but it is separated from it by numerous fences and a pretty significant bluff considering we saw this only blocks from the High Bridge. Either there are a lot more large mammals or less forest for them to live in outside of the Metro area causing them to flock into densely populated areas. We are either going to start to watch for deer while driving through the I35E/I94 Commons area or we will need to find another solution to keep nature (or at least the large animals!) out of the city.

Do you think there is a clear solution to keep everyone happy with this large population of animals moving toward the capital? What do you think is driving these animals away from the woods and into St. Paul and Minneapolis?