West Seattle coyotes: Sightings from Morgan to Alki to Delridge

| Coyotes | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Several more coyote reports have come in over the past week, including two in the past 24 hours – read on to see where they’ve been spotted:

From Andrew, e-mailed Saturday night:

Just saw a coyote on Graham St. Just off California

From Rick on Saturday afternoon:

I twice spotted a coyote prowling around Lincoln Park this afternoon. First on one of the main trails and the second time on a secondary trail. I was walking my dog and he stared at us each time for a few seconds before (going) back into the woods.

Barbara e-mailed earlier this week with news of a recent sighting:

I too saw a pair of coyotes about 2 weeks ago on and early (2 AM) morning dog
errand. Not aggressive, but we came within 8 feet of each other to the surprise of all. Coyote then retreated to the intersection of 46th and Massachusetts to wait until our errand was completed. They checked our retreat into the safety of the alley and then trotted off to the Bonair greenbelt.

And we hadn’t mentioned this one from Shannon last Saturday:

Just a heads up, my fiancé and I were checking out a house for rent on the corner of 24th and Myrtle when a coyote crossed 24th right in front of our car.

Here’s important advice about coexisting with coyotes, and here’s our archive of previous West Seattle coyote reports (some with photos)..

CitizenR November 21, 2010 (4:35 am)

I see them almost on a weekly basis … gotten to be a “natural” thing. We live in the Sunrise Heights area (I see them from Holden to Othello) .. and I see missing cat signs on several poles in the area … keep your kitty inside! We have lots of wooded area where they like to roam!

I. Ponder November 21, 2010 (9:49 am)

I’ve yet to see one. Have heard them down the street though. Lost one of our cats last year. Now the rest are house cats. I wonder what the estimate is for actual numbers. Possibly 10 times more than are sighted?

Ken November 21, 2010 (7:54 pm)

Our outdoor cat of 2 years disappeared about a week ago — we live right behind E.C. Hughes Park in Sunrise Heights, so I’m thinking now that a coyote is one of the more likely causes.

Debby November 21, 2010 (8:12 pm)

We see them nearly every day. I live on 37th between Roxbury and Cambridge. They have taken several cats in our neighborhood and do not appear to be afraid of humans. we have approached waving hands and yelling and they saunter away… I have talked to human society, they tell you to call fish & wildlife and they tell you there is nothing they can do. It’s all very frustrating and now we have more people moving into our neighborhood and they either move in with small children or are just starting their families. I’m concerned for the children more than anything else.

Nulu November 21, 2010 (9:20 pm)

Debby’s concerns are false.
Coyotes taking children makes for great fear mongering.
But there are virtually no confirmed reports of coyotes taking children.

Neal Chism November 22, 2010 (8:03 am)

We have two cats right now who are indoor/outdoor pets. They do a great job of controlling the mouse and rat populations in the area. Ours were getting one and two mice or rats per night this last month, a new record. I don’t know if is global warming or what, but multiply that number by the number of cats in the city and you can see why we need cats. The cats are an owner subsidized rodent control program for the city.
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Having to get our cats sewn back up due to fights with raccoons is bad enough. Having coyotes in town eating pets is unacceptable.
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Dept. of Fish and Wildlife get rid of the coyotes.

Nulu November 22, 2010 (11:30 am)

Neal,
How have you managed to teach your cats not to “control” the bird population? Pet cats kill untold numbers of birds for no reason.
Plus your cats are destroying the natural environment that they are not indigenous to. Many other indigenous wildlife creatures rely on the small rodent population besides the coyote (yes coyotes are nature’s way of “controlling” mice and rats) hawks, eagles, owls, racoons, etc.
Neal Chism’s cats have no business being outside. They harm the natural environment and are just as illegal off-leash on public property as dogs are.
If he needs cats to control his rat problem, fine as long as it is in his house, but it will likely be more productive if he cleans up the food source that has caused the need for “control.”
Another interesting point that outside cat activists fail to note is how many outside cats are killed or maimed by traffic. It is somehow better to assume that your cat was taken by a “bad coyote” rather than it was killed darting out into the street. Of course darting into the street causes traffic accidents and makes whoever is in the car feel terrible.

Neal Chism December 7, 2010 (5:08 pm)

Nulu
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Your last point is not very interesting.
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if you feel bad about running over someone’s pet with your artificial car in this “natural” environment, just think how bad your going to feel when you hit somebody’s kid out playing….. or that rogue coyote for that matter. Maybe slowing down and enjoying the “natural” environment is the answer with the car issues.
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Anyway, cars don’t usually tear the heads off of cats….
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So here we go with the high school debate class.
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I don’t think that cats are illegal off leash anyway. Your premise might have a little problem here. Leashes are not required for cats because they are territorial animals. Yes they may pee on your favorite bush but it is probably the same bush each day. Dogs on the other hand like to roam.
So I say show me the RCW about cats and leashes.
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Seattle is just not a national park. It is artificial environment designed to support millions of human beings in some sort of a healthy fashion. This is why we all pay for an enclosed sewer system and a massive fresh drinking water system and waste disposal, all run by Seattle Public Utilities. A natural environment… not even close.
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So what’s next, letting bears roam around downtown?
How about cougars and badgers in the city too. Where is your limit? Do you let your kids play in a park when it is covered over in goose droppings? How bout all those wonderful pigeons too? Does your natural predator argument go for these animals too? You want to keep the coyotes in the city limits? Ok, let’s all go down to the park today kids and watch the coyotes rip apart the Canadian Geese, won’t that be fun? It’s the natural way!
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Also, I don’t think I ever said that I trained my cats to not eat birds. My cats do help to control the small bird population, which would get way out of hand because there are about a million bird feeders here too. You stop feeding all the birds and I will keep my cats inside.
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I don’t have a rat problem either because I own cats, nor do I have food issues out in the backyard that need correcting, thanks. So don’t use the old “blame the homeowner for the rats guilt trip”. Get up at midnight an look around, you have rats where you are at too, your not special. The rats are all over in every city of this planet, and if you think they are not, you are naive.
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And if you think rats and mice are a “good thing” and a natural part of our “natural” environment here, then I think your are nuts. Read some history. We have to Avantage our cats every month because those wonderful rats and mice have fleas. Those old diseases have not gone away.
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(In Paris, the city government runs established cat operations for the exact reason I argue about here. Maybe we should have a cat tax and let the city run this operation?)
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OK, so let’s all wait for the raccoons to take care of the rats. Oh wait, the humans feed the raccoons too.
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So if my cats have no business being in my back yard then I say the coyote with no microchip and no distemper and rabbies shots has no business in the city. Regulate them and I will keep my cats inside. Get everyone to stop feeding all the birds and the raccoons and let the little creatures go at it naturally, and I will keep my cats inside.
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Either way you pick, I am pretty sure the inside of my house will be mouse and rat free.

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