West Seattle wildlife: 2 coyote encounters, 1 with photos

| Coyotes | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Two coyote reports tonight – the first one, with photos, from Jennifer in Fauntlee Hills:

Just wanted to let your readers know to keep small pets and kids indoors tonight!

Two big coyotes were in our backyard around 5:30. They were really aware of us watching them and stayed, watching us in return for a good 5 minutes or so before running off to a neighbor’s.

No photos, but a graphic story from Candice, after the jump:

Hi everyone. I live on Avalon Way and i was sitting outside on my balcony which faces Avalon and i heard a noise like a cat fight. In front of my apt was a huge coyote attacking a cat. Everyone outside started to yell and make loud noises to try to get it away from the cat, but the coyote was just tearing it apart, totally unafraid of everyone yelling. There are lots of little kids around here, and people jogging up the street, so i just wanted people to know to pay some serious attention to their surroundings.

trina April 15, 2011 (12:17 am)

Where on avalon did you see the coyote?

Wendy Hughes-Jelen April 15, 2011 (12:26 am)

Last night (Wednesday night) on High Point Drive at the top of the greenbelt adjacent to Longfellow Creek

Close encounter of the Coyote kind – at 10:15 I felt Sophia pulling against me behind me, so I turned around and a small coyote was within about 3 feet of touching noses with her. The mental side wishes we could have let the experiment unfold, and also that we had a camera. Luckily instinct prevailed and I yelled at it really loud and Steve had to chase it across the street and into the woods.

My current thought about this continued coyote experience we’ve been having since January is that it was actually curious about Sophia as a dog, and didn’t view her as prey. We saw this coyote up at View Point Park a few weeks ago and it really isn’t very scared of us, and it is super curious. Perhaps this is a juvenile female – a yearling maybe.

Clearly that is not the case for the poor cat mentioned above. My dog weighs 17 pounds and I have a cat that is 14 pounds. I guess it is possible it could have attacked my dog with me right there, 6 feet away. But we’ve seen this coyote before, and it just watches us. I think it is curious.

WSB April 15, 2011 (12:36 am)

Oops, that reminded me I had more coyote encounters in the mailbox than these two that came in late tonight! – TR

Paul April 15, 2011 (2:06 am)

Wendy, Don’t risk it The coyote would also tear your dog to shreds!

Jaclyn April 15, 2011 (5:22 am)

I, like most of you all, have read the Coyote Eating Outside Cats stories for quite some time but actually reading the description was a bit sickening.

As a mother of a toddler, what’s to say one of these coyotes won’t grab one of our young kids? Not to bring in the whole ‘dingo ate my baby’ thing, but if they will go after a cat in front of humans and fail to stop attacking it with humans making noise and trying to scare it, what would we do if it was a child?

Call the cops/animal control? Can we not do something preventative instead? Maybe I’m paranoid but these coyotes seem to be getting more ballsy. Yes, there is a difference between a tempting cat and a small child, but not sure if it escalates naturally or if the coyotes will remain happy eating our West Seattle cats.

Anyone?

westseattledood April 15, 2011 (6:26 am)

I think newly weaned pups will be more visible in the next couple of months. Young and curious, as Wendy points out. I really wonder what I would do if I were to cross paths with one while walking my dog. It hasn’t happened – yet.

lina rose April 15, 2011 (7:53 am)

When I lived in southern utah, we bordered BLM land and coyotes were out every night. I would let my dog out and would hear them all together yipping and howling. I am pretty sure they encountered each other often.

intendyourlife April 15, 2011 (7:56 am)

@Candice-
Suggesting that coyotes are a threat to children or joggers is a bit fear mongering from my perspective. This study, urbancoyoteresearch.com/WhiteandGehrt_CoyoteAttacks.pdf, reports that in the last 45 years there have been 142 reports of coyotes attacks in the US and Canada combined with 62% of them happening in California and Arizona. This study reports an equal division in attacks on children and adults. The document has a bar graph showing attacks in Washington but I can’t tell how many there were.

I know it can be frightening to see animals we are coexisting with but keep in perspective the actual risk.

Lara April 15, 2011 (8:05 am)

I’m with Paul, Wendy. Don’t underestimate how smart coyotes are. When food is scarce they will use a young female to draw out dogs in play, and then ambush them. I’ve seen it happen.

jiggers April 15, 2011 (8:39 am)

Racoons can kill your cats and dogs too if they feel threatened by them.

lucky chick April 15, 2011 (9:23 am)

I didn’t read Candice’s comment as suggesting that coyotes will attack people. But agreed, that’s not something to worry about.
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Horrible to see the cat get killed. Just another reason I hound people (pun intended) about keeping pets indoors. I’d never forgive myself if I let my cat get killed, and I don’t think I’d ever get over seeing what Candice saw.

candice April 15, 2011 (10:22 am)

i wasnt saying that coyotes are going crazy and are going to attack people. i know that normally they are scared away by humans, and i dont care how many statistics and polls and surveys anyone puts out, because this coyote last night was in attack mode. It WAS NOT at all scared of the 7 or so grown adults out there trying to get it away. it was acting like a rabid dog. IF my 3 year old had happened upon it during that time and for some insane reason im not out there with her, would the coyote have run away? or should she have gotten to close, what would have happened then. i dont think its irrisponsible to let the people, who have kids around here, stop and think, hey mabye i shouldnt let my kids run around alone and to just pay extra attention when they are out. i hope u see what i saw last nite then u might be changing ur tune.

Rebecca April 15, 2011 (1:59 pm)

Jaclyn (and others)–

Animal control, in my experience, does not care. After our cat was killed, we called animal control, Fish and Wildlife, and even wrote to the major and city council members. They all said the same thing: “call us when a kid is dead.” I’m serious. They’re waiting for a child to be mauled.

It is not paranoid, nor fear mongering, to say that coyotes can, and have, attacked children. They have done this while parents were standing nearby.

Again and again people post things about coyotes who don’t run from humans and will engage in (see related story today) five minute stare-downs. That means these animals don’t fear humans. Which means they’re dangerous.

Now just try telling that to people who think they’re “cute” and feed them. Seriously. Try. I’ve been trying for years, and the neighborhood is still full of people who think it’s “mean” to chase them away and try to make them fear humans. People love the coyotes and have ZERO understanding of them (seriously folks, just because you’re a hiker with a “wild” garden does not make you a naturalist). They’ll all pretend otherwise when your kid gets chomped though.

Rebecca April 15, 2011 (2:22 pm)

Also, as far as what you can do, I’m no lawyer, but I did used to hunt, and the general rule is that you can kill anything that’s threatening humans or domestic wildlife. If I ever see one chasing a cat or dog down the street, my car is going to acquire a new dent.

We asked the city, and they told us we couldn’t hire a trapper to place traps on any public land (we asked because they were acting like they just couldn’t afford to protect local kids). However, they did say that we could place cage style traps on our own property.

Consult the city before doing anything, but since these things are so darn cozy in our yards, you may be able to trap them on your own property and then have the trapper take them away. (Yes, urban pseudo-hippies, they will be shooting it. No, relocating coyotes that have no fear of humans does NOT work).

Any coyote that’s content in a yard that smells of human and/or domestic dog is a threat to human beings.

If you’re really squeamish about the idea of the coyote being killed, you can buy cougar urine and spray it around your property. That may not be a permanent fix, as they may grow less and less afraid, and cougar urine is very expensive, but they do recognize that as a threat.

For those who are reading this and viewing me as a monster, do your coyote friends a favor: ANY time you see them yell and throw rocks at them. If they re-learn to fear you, they’ll learn to fear me and people like me. Sound like a fair deal?

lucky chick April 15, 2011 (2:31 pm)

Well, now that IS a bit of fear-mongering. Yes, habituated coyotes might attack, and a large percentage of attack records resulted from either habitiated animals, or animals that had been fed by the victim. Ane we are talking very few “attacks” (which in the literature includes bites received while feeding an animal) at all!
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I’m no animal rights-ist, but it’s primarily the humans’ fault for feeding coyotes, leaving food or garbage accessible, or letting cats run outside. Can’t you see that it’s mostly human activities that cause human-coyote conflict?
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That said, attacks are extremely rare. We have much more immediate concerns, like distracted drivers, threatening our well-being!

Tony April 15, 2011 (3:12 pm)

@intendyourlife: thanks for the link to that paper, even though it’s 5 years old. Here are a few tidbits copied and pasted:

“We tabulated 142 reported attack incidents resulting in 159 victims bitten by coyotes during 1960–2006. The greatest number of attacks was classified as predatory (37%).”

“Information on the type of attack site was available for 121 of the attack incidents. Most of these incidents (70%) occurred on or immediately adjacent to the victim’s residence. One quarter of attacks (25%) occurred in parks.”

“For 111 of the attack incidents, information regarding the activity of the victim preceding the attack was available. Most commonly, attack victims were engaged in some type of recreational activity (47%). Examples of these recreational activities include: jogging, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, or playing golf.”

“A previous review of coyote attacks on humans reported children as the primary victims of the most serious coyote attacks (Carbyn, 1989). …we did find that children are the primary targets of predatory attacks, which result in the most serious injuries. Coyotes may view small children as potential prey (Carbyn, 1989).”

“During our research, we discovered that many state wildlife agencies do not maintain records of coyote attacks on people. Of those that do maintain records, they are often inaccessible and incomplete. More importantly, the details captured in these records are largely nconsistent among states and regions.”

WS Suzanne April 15, 2011 (3:35 pm)

The WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has excellent information about living with coyotes in the city — http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/coyotes.html.

The reality is that any risk to humans is miniscule.

Tony April 15, 2011 (3:53 pm)

Blinders, anyone?

Travis April 15, 2011 (4:47 pm)

It is flipping coyote folks. No larger or more dangerous than most smaller dogs. This is a not a wolf pack cunningly hunting down prey, it is a single SMALL coyote.

In rural environments coyotes will almost always avoid human contact. Perhaps they behave a little differently in urban environments, but by and large they are not seeking contact with humans and they certainly aren’t hunting your little children. A coyote would rather eat a nice fat rabbit than your kid.

Outside cats are fair game in my book. They are the single biggest destroyer of wild native birds in urban environments. Just because you have named and fed your animal doesn’t mean it has the right to eat wildlife and not have the same returned to it in kind when the opportunity arises.

Nulu April 15, 2011 (9:54 pm)

How about a comparison of coyote attacks to dog attacks on humans.
Mans best friend kills people every year.
You are at much higher risk from a dog attack.

grr April 15, 2011 (11:47 pm)

I’ve seen what a decent sized fearless raccoon can do to a 65 lb dog. Not a pretty sight. –
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hmm..throw rocks and try to scare away to coyote? Can I do that to the Cujo Siamese cat up the street from me that charges whenever I walk by? Pretty sure those claws could do some damage. Maybe I should give the coyote the address.

lucky chick April 16, 2011 (9:13 am)

Travis-
You’ll find some rabid feral-cat defenders here – even some who suggest releasing them!! Don’t bother posting peer-reviewed literature to show the damage outside cats do – you’ll get infuriating responses about how the science is “biased.” It’s quite the show, and you’ll be unable to educate anyone.
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One Who’s Tried

tw April 16, 2011 (11:56 am)

so…let me get this straight….pet cats are evil because they might kill wildlife. But coyotes who eat nothing but wildlife, are OK.

lucky chick April 16, 2011 (4:32 pm)

Finally, someone understands!! Coyotes ARE wildlife! Get it?

Nulu April 18, 2011 (8:31 am)

Coyotes don’t “eat nothing but wildlife” if they are eating cats!
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Domestic cats, most of which are well fed by their owners, do not kill for food and often bring their prey home.
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Cat owners are irresponsible if they allow their cats to roam outside, just like dog owners who do the same. Both are illegal.

Neal Chism April 19, 2011 (8:44 pm)

Here we go again Nulu.

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.
Comment by Neal Chism — November 22, 10 8:03 am #
Neal,
Neal Chism, April 19, 2011

Neal Chism April 19, 2011 (8:46 pm)

I will save you some time and repost your comment.

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.
Comment by Nulu — November 22, 10 11:30 am

Neal Chism April 19, 2011 (8:50 pm)

Nulu

Here was my reply you may have missed because I had to go away on vacation.

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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?
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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 bring along fleas. An 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.

Comment by Neal Chism — December 7, 10 5:08 pm #

Neal Chism, April 19, 2011

Nulu April 20, 2011 (8:11 am)

Neal Chism,
I was somewhat wrong in my assertion that cats are not allowed by code to roam out of their own yards. But the laws in Seattle do contradict some of your claims and the code that allows them to roam.
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Your assertion that the city streets are part of the natural environment contradicts your statement that the city is an “artificial environment designed to support millions of human beings.”
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I take my driving responsibilities seriously. I have never hit a human with my car, and dread the the thought.
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I have,however, hit a cat that had darted out from UNDERNEATH a parked car. I was traveling less than 5mph and felt terrible. I have never had any experience,and doubt the possibility, of a child being able to dart out from underneath a parked car.
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I don’t know what kind of household you maintain, but I keep my home clean and have never had mice and rats come in. Maybe because I don’t have a cat bowl of food and other attractive nuisances or a cat door.
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As for the city codes please see – http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?
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You are flat out right, there are no rules regarding cat leashes.
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But…
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Cats are allowed to roam, but not onto any school grounds during school hours or organized events. How does one keep their cats from doing this?
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Cats are not allowed to howl, hiss or bare their teeth when off of their owners property. How does the cat owner comply with this?
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Cats ae not allowed to spread garbage. How do you control this?
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Nor are they allowed to damage public or private property. Have you trained your cats not to dig in others gardens or scratch tree trunks?
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Per the city:”The Seattle Animal Shelter believes that a healthy cat is an indoor cat. Indoor cats enjoy longer, safer and healthier lives than those that are outside. If you love your cat, keep it indoors.”
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Do you not love your cat?

Neal Chism April 20, 2011 (6:23 pm)

Oh boy….. Get a clue Nulu, who ever you are.

It is called irony. Look up the word “irony”.

A city is nothing like a natural environment. Saying that a major city on this planet is a natural environment is a joke, get it.

People live in cities. People make the cities.
The city environment is manmade. We let people roam around in cities, not bears or mountain lions or badgers or bobcats or cougars or……
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“that allows them to roam”
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Once more, cats don’t roam,
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Ok.
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Cats don’t roam.
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Coyotes, dogs, and wolfs do roam. Cats are territorial animals. They make the same route over and over again each night.
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And, again with the clean house gilt…..
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Cats kill their prey at night outside and bring it in to house to show off to the owners. Mice and rats will leave an area as soon as a cat comes in to stay. So a home, a nice and clean home like mine that has cats living anywhere near it will never have rats or mice, ever. Come on over and see my house, or just keep making the off point, gilt filled arguments that don’t apply. Remember the the story was about coyotes in the city and not outdoor cats.
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“Do you not love your cat?”
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Oh boy, that is just stupid. We pet owners, in general, have to spend thousands of dollar during the course of a pets life to make sure the animal is healthy and meets city code. What about the coyotes? Are you going to trap them and take them in for a twice a year check-up to get their teeth cleaned and get them shots. Doubt it.
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Then at the end of the life of the pet we have to spend more money to end their life and dispose of the pets remains properly. Or as some people do, just put the dead animal in a quilt and toss it on the side of a river, like say, oh the Duwamish, and let it float out to sea. But usually they just wash up back on the beach again, at a park usually for the lunch time park goers to find. I have to call the animal control on this many times a year. Pretty gross if you ask me.
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Geeez. I am done here, can someone else take over educating this uninformed person. He or she seems emotionally scared after having hit one pet with his or her big car in the big mean artificial city environment, because the owner was thoughtless enough to let the cat outside to do its’ natural job of rodent control. The cat was probably off roaming over at the local high school spreading trash and hissing at something. Again Nulu, this is ironic humor.
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The issue is about the coyotes, not about dogs or cats.
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Do you not love puppies or kitties?

Nulu April 21, 2011 (6:32 am)

Neal,
As part of living in the city, I respect the laws.
By your response, I appears that you don’t.
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None of the valid city laws that I referenced were addressed by you, save for your parsing of the word ‘roaming.’
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Cats are territorial, but cougars are not?
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Outdoor cats ‘roam’ their territory which may include other peoples’ private property and public schools. Please address this.
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I see a cat regularly ‘roaming’ our back yard which is apparently part of its ‘territory.’
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You say I am uninformed when I reference the Humane Society and society’s codes.
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All of the points I made are ignored by you. Apparently you feel that you are one of those special people that are above the law.
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I laughed at your riff about animal disposal. What does that have to do with the laws that you feel don’t apply to your special pets?
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I appreciate that your cats apparently never kill any birds and bring them home. They are truly unique. Maybe you can start a cat training academy, I will support your effort!
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Your clean house response is none, and you know it.
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If you had read the link I included, you would be aware that the number one killer of cats is dogs, not coyotes as you claim.
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Please enjoy your ignorance and my irony.

Neal Chism April 21, 2011 (8:11 am)

The choices here are;
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1) Leave the coyotes alone.
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Live and let live. They will thrive here with plenty of food and prey items to eat. The number of coyotes will increase and the next generation of coyotes will be larger. (When I moved in to WS about twenty years ago, the raccoons were cute little things. Now these animals are very large. I had one stare me down as I was trying to get it out of the backyard. I though it was going to come at me.)
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An incident will finally happen between a coyote and a human because of the density of the human population here. People will be upset and call for Animal Control to do something about the coyotes. By then you will be dealing with large numbers of animals spread over the entire area.
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2) Be proactive now.
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Have Animal Control trap and relocate these animals while they are still small in number and the problem is manageable.
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3) Let people discharge firearms in the city limits and protect themselves.
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Somebody thought about this a long time ago and decided instead, that maybe it would be safer if the city tax everyone who lives here to have an Animal Control dept. with employees that get trained to deal with dangerous animals.

Neal Chism April 21, 2011 (9:31 am)

Nulu

It is good to see you are finally actually reading the laws regarding animals in the city. You started off claiming that outdoor cats were illegal…. Good to see you are learning.
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I would also have to say if a cat is coming over and trespassing on your own private property, you should thank the cats owner because your neighbors cat it is taking care of rats and mice around your clean home too free of charge.
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I ignore many of your comments because they are silly, or I addressed them earlier. And this string of your words here does not really mean anything, which makes it pretty hard for me to respond to.
“Your clean house response is none, and you know it.”
So are you trying to go back to clean house gilt statements again for the third time? Geez…
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I guess Nulu just does not like kitties.
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But of course, the story was about wild coyotes inside city limits, so I want to see a new city ordinance restricting coyotes from howling between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.. That should finally keep those gosh darned cute little coyotes quiet.