This coyote stole someone’s shoe in September in Volunteer Park — before giving it back. Thanks to that temporarily shoe-less neighbor for sharing the picture.
Seattle City Council public safety chair Bob Kettle has more than street disorder and public drug use on his mind.
The council member representing downtown, Magnolia, and Queen Anne also wants to protect you from your neighborhood coyotes.
“Like many of you, I have personally dealt with menacing coyotes when I’ve walked through Queen Anne, I am concerned to see that the coyote issue has escalated beyond being a nuisance to the point that one of our neighbors was attacked while protecting her dog,” Kettle said in a message to constituents earlier this month. “I have raised this issue of both public safety and public health to the Mayor’s Office, to FAS, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. I am determined to mitigate this issue before a tragic incident occurs.”
Kettle says his office is working on a solution but the city “does not have a mechanism for dealing with animals who are in greater numbers and no longer afraid of humans.”
Kettle’s call for action comes following an October incident in which a woman was bit in her backyard trying to save her dog during a coyote attack.
Coyotes will occasionally make the news on Capitol Hill including an increase in sightings this summer around Volunteer Park.
The Seattle Parks Department told CHS this summer it was monitoring sightings in the park and was working with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to follow “their policies and recommendations for urban wildlife in parks.” The parks department was also working to get additional signs posted alerting people to the coyotes.
Signs and information have helped the neighborhood relationship with the wild residents in areas like Arboretum where the parks department says the coyote population has been strong for years.
It is in the best interest of our coyote neighbors to make things work. Officials have said relocation is not a viable option because of the coyote’s large ranges.
“Were coyotes to be removed from a greenbelt or park, other coyotes would quickly re-inhabit the area,” a parks spokesperson told CHS this summer.
Conflict can lead to removal. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services was brought in to hunt down and kill a Volunteer Park-area coyote after it exhibited aggressive behavior. The field necropsy performed by the federal biologist showed the coyote was around six or seven years old. It survived what is described as a “traumatic hip injury” at some point in its life and “had a normal number of external parasites, such as ticks and lice.
Due to WDFW’s focus on fish and wildlife species of conservation concern, and because coyotes are not legally classified as either game species or wildlife in need of conservation or management support, “coyote management is usually contracted by a city with the USDA.
To date, USDA efforts in Seattle around coyotes has been limited to singular cases like the coyote hunted down on the Hill in 2012.
Earlier this year, the WDFW told CHS they were hearing coyote reports on Capitol Hill and in the Greenwood area and as well of reports of other critters like black-tailed deer around the Lake Washington Arboretum and Carkeek Park.
This fall, CHS received several reports from visitors to Volunteer Park of increasingly brazen coyotes. Young coyotes can be particularly precocious and more likely to end up in tangles with humans and the autumn is the time pups leave their dens to find their own territory and packs.
Cold snaps can also lead to increased sightings with more roaming and hunting during daylight hours.
Coyote sightings across recent years reported in the iNaturalist community — including this coyote spotted today in the Arboretum
Coyotes are “savvy survivors” adaptable to almost any environment, and are common across nearly all of North America today, including habitat in urban areas. In our region, they feed primarily on rabbits and small rodents.
This seasonal increases in coyote interaction doesn’t require a Queen Anne coyote hunt. WDFW says staying big, being loud, and never running from a coyote can help keep the relationship a good one. Hazing also could be part of the answer. The USDA’s Wildlife Services says proactively scaring coyotes helped reduce interactions in one study:
Captive coyotes were exposed to one of five human experiences: 1) adult walking, 2) adult walking with a dog, 3) adult hand-feeding coyotes and walking, 4) child walking, and 5) child hand-feeding coyotes and walking. After repeating the human experiences with the coyotes for five days, the participating adult or child then was asked to haze any coyote that approached them to within 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet). Hazing involved shaking a tin can full of coins, yelling, and stomping their feet.
Results showed the number of times coyotes approached and experienced hazing decreased over time. This suggests that coyotes that have been hazed learn to avoid behaviors (i.e., getting too close to people) that might result in more hazing. Additionally, coyotes that were fed or were followed by a person with a dog were more likely to approach a person even if it resulted in being hazed. Researchers conclude that coyote hazing can work, but a coyote’s past experiences with people influences hazing effectiveness.
The keys to reducing Capitol Hill coyote conflicts? Keep your pets safe and leashed, never feed your coyote neighbors, and yes, give them a scare. It’s for their own good.
As for those “menacing coyotes” Kettle is reporting, the wild neighbors typically are only “escorting” humans across their territory, a common behavior part of instincts around guiding intruders away from pups and dens.
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Last week I saw a coyote being chased through Volunteer Park by a guy who likes to let his dog off leash to hunt rabbits in the bushes by the museum. I’ve heard that coyotes will attack cats and dogs that they see as competition for their hunting territory. Another reason to obey the leash laws in the park.
Man, I wish we had more enforcement in the parks. People using wild animals as chew toys…
Kudos to him for hazing the coyote. As the article notes: coyotes that have been hazed learn to avoid behaviors (i.e., getting too close to people) that might result in more hazing. Additionally, coyotes that were fed or were followed by a person with a dog were more likely to approach a person even if it resulted in being hazed. Researchers conclude that coyote hazing can work, but a coyote’s past experiences with people influences hazing effectiveness.
I’ve seen too many people showering coyotes with love, which only puts the coyotes in a position of not fearing humans and putting the coyotes at risk of being culled (as in the 2012 incident).
So do the coyotes a favor and make them uncomfortable in areas that humans frequent (e.g., parks)
Let’s make them extremely uncomfortable.
The coyotes are the only thing we have going to keep the bunny population in check. We need more coyotes, not fewer!
I was thinking the same thing. Bunnies are way down. They will attack a small leashed dog though so don’t exactly want more. “Your coyote neighbors…” LOL
the bunny count in my part of the hood is definitely not down. I never saw a bunny pre-C19, now I see 10 within a 2 minute walk to the Safeway
This is a clueless article, even for a city slicker. Coyotes can be a problem and they are getting more aggressive. They should not be running free in Seattle.
Did you read the article? It’s full of information from local, state, and federal experts on the issue, all of whom explained that it’s pretty common. The article then has helpful information on how people in the city can help by not feeding them (something many city slickers actually do) and actively hazing them to discourage their presence.
The only reason Kettle is bringing up coyotes is because he doesn’t actually have legitimate policies, just fear mongering which will always be in need of additional scapegoating.
I’m sure he doesn’t have legitimate policies to push but I’m even more sure his constituents in Magnolia do want him to do this.
Dear God Matt. So continually tiresome.
Seattle is just a place on the ground like any other. Coyotes live here. Behave correctly toward them and they will not be a problem.
Yes it’s our fault. Packs of coyotes have no designs on us or our pets. We need to adjust our attitude. Very big eyeroll here. JFG.
Did we read the same article?
Great article, thanks! Might also mention the carnivore spotter app, which is more formal citizen science compared to inaturalist. https://carnivorespotter.org/urban-carnivore-spotter/
We have a severe lack of brown bears in Volunteer Park.
Grizzlies too maybe?
Boris, how are we going to steal car from moose and squirrel if they have brown bears?
OMG an oblique reference to Rocky and Bullwinkle my favoritist thing ever when I was nine! So very many years ago. Haven’t thought of this for years but so delightful to revisit!! Thank you!
From the WA department of fish and wildlife:
“ In suburban areas of southern California, trapping and euthanizing coyotes has been shown not only to remove the individual problem animal, but also to modify the behavior of the local coyote population. When humans remove a few coyotes, the local population may regain its fear of humans in areas where large numbers of humans are found. It’s neither necessary nor possible to eliminate the entire population of coyotes in a given area. Contact your local wildlife office for additional information.”
One person is bit and Bob springs to action.
Hundreds of people’s lives are threatened by horrible drivers every day in Seattle due to lack of enforcement and we get crickets.
Good to see he has his priorities on order!
Bitten. The word is “bitten.”
Does that make you feel good about yourself?
The focus here is the people that are almost hitten every day by terrible drivers ;)
:)
I wonder if they have got compensation? :)
What are effective methods of hazing? Tasers? Cap pistols? Rocks? Darts? And, are coyoties present in Ohio where the MAGA folks were accusing Hatians of eating pets?
CM Kettle had a valid concern. The QA coyote was spotted with this concerning item.
trying to upload pic for my comment…
My cat was eaten by coyote on last September 2024. In highpoint neighborhood, west Seattle.
Tell that to my neighbor that was attacked by one and required surgery.
Look, maybe most coyotes are chill and safe even though they appear to be stalking you and your dogs as you walk through your neighborhood but the vast majority of us do not have experience with wildlife, so I’d appreciate turning down the tone in the article. It basically reads “hey man, coyotes are no big deal, why are you so scared? you’re making too big a deal out of this just relax.”
That is not helpful, especially to those of us who have been followed for multiple blocks by a coyote while walking their senior dogs, and said coyote was not bothered in the slightest by ‘hazing’. A situation like that is unnerving at best, scary at worst to a lot of people, so pump the brakes with the attitude.
Also, thanks for burying the lead by having actual useful information in the very last paragraph. Next time please lead with solutions/pertinent information.
Yup. Agree. But coyote justice will probably prevail in Seattle right?
Yeah but you’re not allowed to feel concerned. BTW headline kind of sucked too.
The Article did great things. It sparked discussion, gave useful information that provides a means to actually address the problem which the city of Seattle has failed to address. We need to start removing them in a way that teaches the pack to stay away and keep humans from feeling sorry and feeding. Nature has a much more brutal way of controlling populations. Its important to be part of nature not above her?
When coyotes are outlawed, only outlaws will have coyotes.