Our wildlife's existential quandary

This winter our local wildlife has a very tough time with feeding itself, as snow keeps on accumulating. On Monday, my wife counted 12 deer in our neighbor's yard, over the 3 foot wooden fence, and these guys seem to have established their winter quarters between our two homes munching on pine tree branches, the only “edible” stuff left for them. 

It’s not that as a community, Park City disregards the welfare of our four-legged friends. In late 2018, a $5 million overpass was completed, crossing over the Interstate 80 at Parleys summit, about 10 miles from our home, to let wildlife through the busy highway and limit vehicle collisions. 

Its camera went viral in 2020 when footage from the bridge was viewed over 3 million times. The clip below highlights just some of the animals that crossed in front of the cameras including moose, pumas, bobcats, bears, porcupines, mule deer, and coyotes. 

This of course is more variety than we see from our window that’s limited to moose, deer, squirrels, rabbit and the occasional grouse, but who know really which critter roams there?