The Wildlife Of Washington Park

I have to admit, the wildlife in Denver's Washington Park are not all that wild. Most of the population seems to consist of geese, who tend to arrive and never leave, such as the fellow in the photograph on the left. In fact, when the population gets too large, the City of Denver culls many of them and gives the meat to food banks to feed the poor. In fact, I noticed a goose at the park just last week fitted with a tube on its neck with WN49 printed on it. That can't be a good sign for that particular goose. In fact, I would have to say its goose is cooked. In 2019 and 2020, the city culled over 2,000 geese from its parks (known locally as Goosegate), to the strong objection of animal rights activists and residents. Some activists even tried to stop the culling in federal court, but a judge denied the injunction. And so it goes on.

Of course, squirrels make up a good part of the wildlife population at Washington Park, too. But let's face it, squirrels are everywhere and pretty damned boring. And always seem to be begging for food. Or stealing it. My sister Susan had a lot of bird feeders in the yard when she owned her townhouse up in Fort Collins, and whenever I was up there, the only creatures I saw on those feeders were squirrels. To a lot of homeowners around here, they are known as tree rats. On the other hand, fortunately for them, nobody tries to catch a squirrel to cook for Christmas dinner, and the City of Denver, as far as I know, has never tried to cull them. At least yet.

In other parts of the Denver area, bears are often seen wandering around neighborhoods, not to mention deer and elk. The most exciting wildlife seen in Washington Park to date are coyotes, although I myself have never seen one wandering around there. I only know of their possible presence due to the warning signs in the park, such as the one in the photograph on the left. However, I did once see two coyotes along the banks of the Platte River, a few miles to the west of Wash Park. At least I think they were coyotes. I suppose they could have been wild German Shepards. They were on the opposite side of the river, splashing around, and I would have gotten as close as possible in order to make a positive identification if I was on that side of the Platte, but those are the breaks. Perhaps next time.