Since I work with wildlife, I tend to be snarky about whether or not they are problematic. My advice to people moving to Putnam or Dutchess County is: if wildlife bothers you, stay in the city. They were here first.
Bears move around, so there's a good chance some might pass through Beekman, though they'll only stay if they find an easily available food source (i.e.: garbage or the contents of bird feeders.) There are coyotes in this area as well, although they are shy and avoid people whenever they can. I live south of Beekman, in Putnam County, and have had a bear on my deck and coyotes running across my driveway, but then they disappeared and that was that. Any bear that becomes too comfortable in a populated area is usually tranquilized by the Dept of Environmental Conservation and re-located to a wilderness area upstate. As for the smaller ones, they're around, the trick is not to leave food out for them. Outdoor cats count as food for a lot of wildlife and as sport prey for a lot of humans, so best to keep them inside.
