[ChuckMcM]

(P.S. I think its awesome, I love a person who explores the questions more deeply.)

I think you make an excellent point vis-a-vis homeless vs defenseless. My exposure to plague warnings has primarily been in the county and state parks around the Bay Area. The primary vector being fleas per https://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/vbds/Documents/PreventingVB...

We have also got a number of lion sightings/encounters although I could not find the 2014 or current data (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/lion/trends.html)

And of course the linked article talking about Coywolves and relating to their lack of fear of humans.

My thesis is that human/wildlife encounters will increase as the populations of these various species increase in response to greater success in living in urban and suburban areas. And my conjecture is that as a result of increased encounters there will be more incidents where the defenseless are harmed. Have not yet thought of a good way to test that hypothesis yet.

And that has also lead to exposure to racoons and bears both of whom are willing to cross paths with humans in order to scavenge food or food scraps.