1 . When the British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson described nature as “red in tooth and claw”, he was telling us that the natural world can be cruel as well as beautiful.    1    .

Most people living in urban areas rarely encounter wild animals in their natural surroundings.     2     And they are willing to get close to them. But for wild animals, it is “eat or be eaten,” and they can’t distinguish between humans and other animals.

    3     In Canadian woods lives a dog-like animal, coyote, which is a little bigger than a fox, but smaller than a wolf. They usually avoid humans, but the occasional attacks can be deadly. Every year, one or two people end up getting killed by coyotes.

Earlier this year, a herd of elepants in Yunnan left their home in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve and went on a meandering journey through the province. They destroyed crops and buildings along the way. Villages in their path had to be evacuated because of the potential dangers they posed to villagers. Animal experts haven’t determined why the elephants went on their journey.     4     The wild animals we love are in a constant struggle for survival. Our expanding into the natural habitats of wild animals can be dangerous for the animals and then us humans as well.

Maybe we should try to stay away from them.     5     Their lives—red in tooth and claw—are difficult enough without us causing them any more problems than they already have.