Something snuffly this way comes

At night sometimes, someone very clumsy rustles in the bushes outside the house. It goes all around the back, finds its way to the front, circles back again, and then continues further down the street or back up the hill. Sometimes crunching sounds accompany it, as well as snuffling, snorting sounds.

I live in a pretty big city in Israel. What would you guess our visitor is?

No, it’s not an enthusiastic stalker or asthmatic burglar. It’s a wild boar. It comes a few times a week and twice so far we’ve managed to catch a glimpse of it.

It’s very large, very fat, and full of dark, rough-looking hair. I would call it fur, but when I think of fur, I think of something soft and fluffy. This thing does not look soft or fluffy.

It likes to munch on trash and catfood that people leave for the street-cats.

Wild boars! Really. I feel like I live in a forest. The fact that Eyal has seen weasels frolicking further down the street doesn’t help break this illusion one bit!

In another nearby city you can hear the jackals howling at night. Further south, I saw a desert gazelle and some kind of desert leopard. Otters seem to be relatively common, and they must be one of the two holiest of all creatures, because I’ve seen them swimming around with giant cat-fish (the size of toddlers) swimming in the Jordan River while the American baptist tourists bless the water and themselves.

I’ve not managed to catch a good photo of our elusive snuffly visitor. I managed to capture a dark, dark shape in a dark, dark undergrowth. Not very exciting. Perhaps I can manipulate it later to make something visible. I wish it would stand still for me so I can draw it.