Living at the edge of a still, undeveloped forested area has been my good fortune for many years. Whatever perception of a major, American city one might have, my city, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ... simultaneously fits stereotypes of such while exploding them.

To my knowledge, Philadelphia has the largest population of wild, White-tailed Deer in the world. And some of those deer frequently step out of the Philly woods and into my back yard (which I keep in a semi-wild state by growing native plants and not cutting down a number of 100 foot-plus tall Yellow Poplars and other tree species.

In addition to the deer, I get quite a few species of birds, red foxes. opossum, squirrels, Eastern Cottontail Rabbits and recently ... a WOLF!

No ... really ...

A wolf hybrid dog was captured safely and successfully by the Pennsylvania Game Commission in a section of Pennypack Park yesterday. The seamless capture happened yesterday morning as Pennsylvania Game Commission officials lured the wolf hybrid dog to a foothold trap by using hot dogs as bait. The decision to use hot dogs as bait was made because the wolf hybrid dog was eating hot dogs in the park. The wolf hybrid dog was transported to the Wolf Sanctuary of Pennsylvania, a 22 acre facility in Lancaster that allows wolves and wolf hybrid dogs that are ownerless to live freely.

Because of the unique photo opportunities happening literally at my (back) doorstep, I keep my camera on a tripod always ready to go. Yesterday was one of those days when being ready and being lucky pay great dividends. Getting a dozen or more publishable images in less than a half-hour ... and never leaving the neighborhood, is a nature photographer's dream-come-true.

The sharing of yesterday's dream images started here ...

http://immaginedigitalimag.newsvine.com/_news/2012/07/03/12547821-the-early-bird-sometimes-catches-the-good-photos

... and continues here in this article.

© All Rights Reserved/A. Macarthur