Wildlife Gone Wild!

But not really. Actually, they all seemed pretty laid back, venturing closer to roads and neighborhoods looking for food after a snowstorm dumped up to a foot of snow in the foothills this past Sunday. And in point of fact, the buffalo in the photograph on the left are not really wild - they are part of a herd maintained by the City of Denver up in Genesee Park (Genesee is a foothills suburb west of Denver). What I want to know is how those elk got into that enclosed area. I have heard of the deer and the antelope playing, but not elk and buffalo. Live and learn, I guess.

And driving along Upper Bear Creek Road west of Evergreen, I was hoping to run across some bears coming out of hibernation, or at least a mountain lion or two, but had to satisfy myself with a herd of deer, blending into the background, munching on a grassy hillside. And they did not seem spooked at all. A few turned around to look at me, and then quickly went back to their afternoon snack. But what I would really like to see most is a real live moose. The local newscasts are constantly featuring stories about moose hanging out in ski areas, threatening skiers and snowboarders, or stopping traffic in mountain towns, but despite years of searching the Colorado and Wyoming wilderness, no such luck. I am beginning to think moose in Colorado and Wyoming are a myth, made up to draw tourists into those states. I once even went to the Colorado Center for the Moose, in Walden, Colorado, where they post moose sightings, and headed to those locations, only to find nada. I suspect the people working at that center can't stop laughing after you leave to follow their wild goose chases. Talk about cruel.