The wild animal that crosses your path without being domesticated or managed is one of the few remaining encounters with something genuinely other — a life form with no interest in your opinions and no need of your approval. Nasreddin treated these encounters as visitations, pausing in whatever argument he was having with the universe to acknowledge the hawk, the snake, the herd of deer in the morning field. The wild animal is a reminder that the world was here before your concerns, and will be here after.
Nas