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Long ago, when I lived up in the northern interior, in the outskirts of town (Prince George, British Columbia), I've had a couple different experiences with wildlife. Once, when I went jogging, it was down a dirt road. On the way back, about maybe 50 feet ahead of me, I saw a black bear slowly crossing the road. Noticing and looking at the bear, I stopped and froze, as the bear did, back to me. For maybe half a minute, the bear and I just stood there, frozen, staring at each other. Not really knowing what to do, but also knowing what not to do, which would be to panic, I slowly began to move towards the house to the left of me. On the split second that I moved, the bear scuttled off in a startle into the woods. When I made my way to the door of the house and knocked on the door there was no-one there which left me no choice but to just head back up home, past where the bear had been. Running back home, I made sure I made noise by clapping my hands so the bear wouldn't come near. Needless to say, I was thankful to have made it back in one piece.
Another time, there were two young wild foxes in the area, one red, the other, black. Late one night, I noticed they were roaming about close by so I went and sat on the doorstep with some food that I could find which was some cat food and a couple roma tomatoes. As they skittishly came up closer, I just sat there and tossed the food out for them as they ate it and looked at me with their sparkling, playful, eyes. The red one even came right up to me and pulled on my cardigan with his teeth like he wanted to play. I got up, wandered around the outside of the house and we followed each other back and forth, illuminated by the moonlight and northern lights in the sky. After that night, I never saw them again but I will never forget that magical experience having that connection which is a memory I'll keep treasuring for the rest of my life.
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