Wild Squatters

choi

Carolyn Butler, Once Upon a Home. There were some charming cottages in Finland. The people moved away. And the animals moved in. National Geographic (NG), October 2012.
ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/wild-squatters/butler-text

My comment:
(a) The plight of depopulation in Japan got me thinking. Taiwan was once like Japan, overpopulated. For a couple of decades, Taiwan's population has stood still, at 23 million. (I do not know whether it include the often cited figure of 1 million Taiwanese living in China.)  Taiwanese are now said to queue, like the Britons--which let me wonder whether it is because there are not many Taiwanese to compete for resources. Taiwan may soon follow Japan's foot steps as an aging society.
(b) People throw away old magazines. I find this issue (as well as the December 2012 one) Saturday (May 9) in a recycle dumpster.  
(c) The NG article had a curt text. Do not forget to click the photo gallery in the upper left corner. I wonder why badgers needed to visit a house--why not live there. The photographer had no flash light, but in Scandinavia summer nights are quite bright.

View the map for their range in badger
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger

On the other hand, a vacant house might be a death trap--a prey may have no place to run when a predator bumps in.
(d) "Photograph by Kai Fagerström"

"The origin and meaning of [Nordic male given name] Kai is uncertain."