D.C. Animal Sightings: An Opossum In Shaw, 'Cougar' In Glover Park?

WASHINGTON -- There have been more reminders that nature is not a stranger to the District of Columbia. Monday morning, neighborhood blog Prince of Petworth published a first-hand account of an opossum encounter in Shaw:

I've had a strange morning over here in Shaw. I went out for my run and the neighbor next door told me he saw some "big raccoon" try to get into my front door and then it felt down into a window well where the basement windows are (I have no idea what that's called). Thinking it couldn't get out from there (it was a four foot climb -- stupid me, I forgot opossums are pretty tactile little things), I called animal control. Well, within 20 minutes this thing is back on the street.

The writer noted that Animal Control informed them that opossums have "learned to adapt to an urban environment" and releasing the animal was the best course of action.

There was a report of a cougar in Glover Park late last week. Some Twitter reports indicated that a cougar was spotted around 6:15 a.m. on Friday behind the Beecher House apartment building, which sits on the edge of Glover-Archbold Park.

Last month, there was an alleged mountain lion sighting farther north in the same park, near McLean Gardens. Glover-Archbold Park is part of a north-south greenbelt that connects the C&O Canal with Van Ness Street NW. It is connected to Rock Creek Park though Whitehaven Park and Dumbarton Oaks Park.

The National Park Service has been skeptical of the possibility of mountain lions living in Rock Creek Park or in the Washington area. Wild turkey, deer and coyotes, however, do live in Rock Creek Park.

In October, a deer was rescued from the Tidal Basin.