A week after a deadly zebra cobra terrorized a North Raleigh neighborhood, two other sets of apex predators are reportedly on the loose in the Triangle. 

On Monday, a dozen wolf-dog hybrids were reported running wild in Hillsborough after escaping from captivity. Today, a wild black bear climbed a tree outside Rex Hospital, attracting a slew of Twitter-happy reporters and sending another neighborhood in panic. 

It’s hard not to wonder: is nature turning on us? 

The evidence seems clear: global warming, the west coast on fire, terrifying storms, blistering heat, the squirrels that steal my tomatoes and strawberries. More pervasive, as Triad City Beat editor Brian Clarey noted last week, the natural world has encroached into our kitchens in the form of a zombie-like hoard of fruit flies nurtured no doubt by the heat, humidity, and our inability to thoroughly clean crumbs from countertops. 

And now, the mighty predators our suburban sprawl have reduced to dumpster diving sideshows are taking revenge. And filling our social media feeds.  

Alright, so it was a baby bear, and they did catch the cobra (and seized another 75 venomous snakes from its 21-year-old genius owner). Most of the wolf dogs, which look like German Shepherds on steroids, have been rounded up by Orange County animal control officers, although it’s unclear what fate will befall the beasts as housing exotic hybrid species isn’t allowed under county code (though naturally, North Carolina has no laws stopping residents from owning whatever rare and dangerous creature they want). 

Whatever reckoning Mother Earth is brewing, let’s just hope locusts aren’t next. 

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Follow Senior Staff Writer Leigh Tauss on Twitter or send an email to ltauss@indyweek.com.