WARNING: Keep pets, especially cats and small dogs, inside for the near future or, in the case of dogs, on a leash with the owner holding one end. Coyotes are thriving in the area; a lot of residents are posting missing pet signs all over the neighborhood.
Reporting: Please report all coyote encounters to Meg Mager and include: (1) the date, time and location of the encounter, (2) what you did to deter the coyote – e.g., shouting, clapping, etc., and (3) how the coyote responded. I will update the website as sightings are reported. Thank you!
Helpful Links
- Map of area sightings: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?authuser=0&authuser=0&hl=en&hl=en&mid=z883z5pKv66U.k0DVIev3ci24
- Coyotes and People: What to Know If You See or Encounter a Coyote: http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/coyotes/tips/coyotes_people.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/
- Helpful link about keeping cats indoors.
- See the November Bulletin for tips on how to deter coyotes.
- More on coyotes from Petplace
- CoyoteVest sells vests designed to protect smaller dogs from coyotes.
Sightings
6/21/16: Coyote spotted this morning at 6:45am crossing my yard at the corner of NW 175th St and 10th Ave NW.
6/20/16: I saw a coyote run across our backyard last night at about 10PM. We live on the 17700 block of 13th Ave NW. Our dog spotted him and barked and chased him off into the neighbor’s yard to the north of us.
6/13/16: My husband and I were just on a walk on 167th and 16th ave NW and saw a medium-large size coyote in the driveway of home on the 150o block of 167th NW. We alerted the homeowners who say they have seen them come up from Boeing Creek reserve, likely to hunt the mountain beaver.
6/13/16: We live at 1500 block of NW 167th street and last Thursday (June 9th) I noticed a coyote in our neighbor’s back yard to the east. The coyote was hanging out on the south periphery of their yard – nearest the ravine – and was walking around. I saw it and yelled from my bathroom window and clapped and it retreated into the ravine. That was around 8PM. Actually what alerted me to look out the window was their east neighbor’s dog barking – it was clear that the neighbors dog could sense or see the coyote.
Last night (Sunday the 12th), around 7-8PM, some neighbors saw a coyote in the north east side of our yard, near some raised beds we have. They walked down our driveway and yelled and clapped and the coyote took off towards the ravine through the yard of our neighbors to the east. I believe the neighbors to the east might be on vacation because typically they’re out in their back yard at night and we’ve not heard them much lately so maybe the coyotes are using that as a lane to get out of the ravine. (I hope they come home soon and spend time in their back yard!)
Both sightings were full grown coyotes, not pups but I personally suspect their den is near our property in that ravine between us and the Highlands because we consistently hear them howl and bark whenever something loud goes by like a particularly loud plane or train. Hope this helps and I hope everyone is being very careful with their cats and small dogs.
6/7/16: Saw a lone coyote standing in the road at 18400s section of 17th Ave NW. The first time I yelled at it, it didn’t move. The second time, it ran into Eagle Reserve.
6/6/16: A coyote ran through our yard toward the reserve at 5PM today. It was moving at a fast trot. We are at 15th NW and NW 186th.
6/1/16: Coyote pup spotted carrying a dead mountain beaver across a back patio on the 18400 block of 17th Ave NW.
5/29/16: A coyote has been hanging out in Eagle Reserve. Today 5/30 we saw one this morning in the middle east side barking away. We also saw one on the upper east side 5 /26 in the evening. We are hearing it bark lots when people are walking in Eagle.
5/24/16: Coyotes heard howling in the Eagle Reserve at 8:15 PM.
5/16/16: A lone coyote ran across our lawn to the house next door at 8:45 this morning (18400 block of 17th Ave NW). We hear them yipping and howling about 3 nights a week too.
5/12/16: My husband and dog went out for walk this morning at 6:30 a.m. May 12. We live on 13th Avenue NW. Up before the stop sign at Innis Arden Drive, a coyote dropped down between some photinia bushes towards a back yard that is unkempt. Rick yelled at it but it just kept on going.
5/10/16: We are on the 1400 block of NW 185th, with Blue Heron in our backyard and Eagle across the street. We had a coyote walk through our back yard last week at 7:30 am, heading east across the neighboring yards and into Blue Heron. Our dog barked and I yelled. The coyote trotted slowly away. Yesterday at 6:30 am a coyote stopped and sniffed about 3 feet from our barking dog (separated by a fence). The coyote trotted away when we yelled at it, then returned 5 minutes later. This evening at 5:30 pm, a coyote trotted through our yard on a direct path into Blue Heron reserve.
5/3/16: I ran into a coyote this morning at 8:15 am when I was going down Running Water Reserve with my dog. It was coming up from Springdale into the reserve and ran into the bushes on the north side.
4/14/16: A Westie dog on 17th Pl NW was taken from a resident’s yard on 4/10 around 7:30PM, approx. 20 ft from the front door. The resident hired a bloodhound tracking team to locate the dog; their search identified the spot where the dog was killed and led to a coyote den in a blackberry thicket behind the house.
3/20/16: A coyote walked slowly through our backyard on the 183oos block of Ridgefield Rd. NW heading south at 9:45 AM.
3/19/16: Coyote sighting at 7:30 AM close to the corner of 16th and 17th, crossing from Blue Heron Reserve to 16th, coming right at me with my two small dogs on leash. When we moved quickly toward the coyote it moved into Eagle reserve. On our walk up Eagle reserve, the dogs, at one point, closer to 17th than 15th, acted as if they detected another (usually dog) on the trail, but not sign of any dogs, nor the coyote, who I assume was in the area, unseen. Smallish, young-looking coyote.
3/15/16: Saw a coyote walk through our yard this morning at 8:30 AM on the 1400 block of NW 185th. My dog growled and barked loudly. The coyote paused briefly then casually walked to the next yard and down the slope toward the Reserve; it seemed more curious than scared.
3/11/16: At 6:30 AM this morning, a coyote darted across 17th Avenue NW and into the yard at 18610, stopped to look at me, and then ran into Eagle Reserve.
3/5/16: My young six-year-old was in the driveway with his six-year-old friend. They were being kind of loud with high voices; no adults were out. They got into the car and were facing the woods. They were there for about 10 whole minutes while I got ready and they saw a coyote. It was dusk at 6 PM.
2/22/16: Saw a large coyote at 6 AM this morning on the 18800 block of 17th Avenue NW.
2/20/16: 8:30 AM – we just observed one coyote at the edge of our backyard above the ravine on the 1000s block of NW 167th St. We were in the house and did not go outside.
2/14/16: Coyote in our backyard this morning, 8:30AM on the 16700 block of 16th Ave NW. I shouted at it and it immediately ran away, heading north.
2/12/16: 7:05 AM, 2 coyotes standing at 18455 17th Ave NW, ran into Eagle Reserve when I yelled at them.
2/9/16: 5:15 AM, 1 coyote crossing from 18455 17th Ave NW into Eagle Reserve.
2/8/16: We were awoken at 5:20 AM by a coyote howling very close to our house on 16th Ave NW. It made 3 or 4 calls. It seemed to be just outside, but we couldn’t see it.
Reported 2/1/16: We’ve seen a very large coyote on Innis Arden Dr. going between the two reserves. He stops looks at us then trots off into the reserve going either east or west; he is not afraid of us. We saw him three times at the end of November in the late afternoon and once at 9:30 PM. My mom encountered him while walking with my 5-year-old son at the end of December. My husband saw him a week ago on a run in the AM. My family members shouted at him to go away, he didn’t go quickly or even respond, except to wander off.
- 1/25/16: 9:30 AM
- 11/5/15: 9:30 PM, exact time
- 11/26-28/15: Two at ~3:30 PM
- 12/30/15: ~2 PM
1/18/16: My wife saw 2 coyotes, an adult and a juvenile, walking right across our driveway, 20 ft from our front door. They went into our neighbors’ property at the intersection of 16th Ave NW and NW 185th. We’ve seen coyotes before in our neighbors’ yards along NW 185th, just above the Blue Heron reserve, and in Running Water, but never so close to our house.
12/29/15 from Nextdoor: FYI, just saw two coyotes standing in the middle of the path only two minute walk in from the gate. They were quite bold and unintimidated by the three adults and our golden retriever headed towards them. It’s the first time I’ve seen them in the reserve during the day, and just wanted to share a heads up for others who frequent this trail!
12/26/15: Our dog Sophie, a 25 lb. beagle, was killed by a coyote on our property around 3 PM. We live on 10th AVE NW close to the bridge. We are heartbroken by the loss of our beloved pet and feel unsafe given the many recent attacks and pet disappearances in the neighborhood.
11/28/15: Coyote spotted in our backyard at 16th Ave NW at 11 AM. It looked healthy and I shouted and clapped my hands and it turned back to head north.
11/8/15: We saw a coyote trotting down the south end of 12th Ave NW on Sunday evening around 7 pm.
11/3/15: On Sunday, November 1, at about 5 PM after they ate, our white short-haired toy Chihuahua named Daisy and our cat Barney, simply disappeared from our residence back yard at 1575 NW 167th St. Daisy is old, sick, and very small. Barney is also old but is in great health. Barney is lean and very fast.
Our back yard is secured from the east front by fences and two tall locked gates. The south side lies north of the Boeing Creek Reserve and is barricaded from access by a boardwalk. The west is high banked PS waterfront. The north side is fenced. As a result, the animals remain carefully secured and are never allowed to go outside this backyard perimeter unless leashed. Accordingly, the disappearance of both animals could not have been caused by animal welfare or people in a car.
We are at our wits end trying to determine what kind of predator living in the Boeing preserve could access our yard, then chase and catch both of these little animals simultaneously. I think Barney could outrun any raccoon, or coyote. The other slight possibility is an eagle but how could an eagle catch and carry both animals at the same time.
10/26/15: We were leaving our home on 175th Street at about 7:45 Monday evening when we spotted a rather large coyote halfway up the block on 14th NW. It turned and looked our way and walked a few feet in our direction then turned into a nearby yard and vanished.
9/23 & 9/28/15: Both of my dogs have been attacked in our back yard by something this past week. One happened last Wednesday, 9/23 and the other last night, 9/28. We live on 186th and our back yard backs up to the Blue Heron reserve. Both attacks happened at night so we aren’t sure if it was a coyote or raccoon. My dogs are pretty big, 105 lbs. and 70 lbs., so the animal has to be pretty big. Our vet said the wounds are definitely bite wounds. Thankfully the dogs were okay and didn’t require stitches just antibiotics and an ointment.
9/23/15: I for one would like to get rid of all the coyotes. Like many people who own pets, I am concerned they’re going to kill my pets. More important, I feel like their population continues to grow and continues to be comfortable with humans. I often walk very early in the morning and I have seen coyotes about 20 different times. They are absolutely not scared of me and not scared of my barking (on leash) dog whatsoever. This very much concerns me.
9/23/15: I’ve had so many sightings and concerns re: the group of coyotes living in my forest that I decided to place some calls at my neighbors’ request, hoping I could get animal control to do something. I called city of Shoreline about our coyote family, who forwarded me to Washington State Fish and Wildlife. The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife forwarded me to their website: Living with Wildlife. Basically they won’t come get them. They say if we see them, scare them so they will be scared of you. They asked us to “haze” them so we teach them to be scared of us. That seemed very important. They also said that they do not move them or kill them.
I was told that Innis Arden can hire USDA Wildlife Services to do lethal management, but they are very selective about it. I spoke with the USDA guy and he is out hunting as are his people, but he will try and get out here in two weeks to take a look. He said that this needs to be a community effort. I can’t just hire him to do our property because once my coyotes are gone, the next alpha group will just come in. I am happy to meet with whomever on the board wants to come in for this meeting with the USDA biologist. Once they come out and look at the area, including all the reserves, they can then give us a price to do the job. That said, he felt it was important to let people know that the coyote will be euthanized. They can’t take them and move them elsewhere. In any case, the coyote issue is a community one and it sounds like if the board wants to get rid of them, they will need to decide to take action since doing it piecemeal will just result in newer populations moving in. Please let me know who from the board wants to come meet with them when they come out.
9/22/15: I encountered a coyote at 9:45 this morning when I was walking up Blue Heron trail. It was just uphill from the point where the trail crosses 14th Ave NW. He turned around and went back up the trail.
9/22/15: This morning at 7:10 AM, while walking the dog, I encountered two coyotes on the trail between Innis Arden Rd. and Springdale Ct. Both ran off into the brush. Fortunately, the dog was on the leash.
9/21/15: This morning my 7th grader watched one from his bus stop. It was walking westbound down the middle of 167th “for a while” between 10th and 15th NW at 7:45 AM. It ran to the hill behind our house on 167th when a car came down the street.
9/21/15: Saw a coyote near Running Water reserve this afternoon. They are becoming more aggressive in their pursuit of small cats and dogs.
9/19/15: Heard coyotes howling last night on the bluff below our house (17th Avenue NW) and saw a large one in the middle of 17th at #18443 at 7:15 this morning. It retreated back into the Eagle Reserve as I drove towards it.
Posted 9/16/15:
- My neighbors and I have seen a coyote at Eagle Creek off of 18th and 15th a number of times. Today I saw him while walking my dog. He sometimes is there late at night barking kind of hysterically.
- A very large coyote was spotted on NW 186th street (east end) 9/14 around 6:00 PM.
- While walking the dog west bound on the Blue Heron trail a little before 10AM this morning (9/15), as I approached the big bend, we ran into a coyote walking the other direction. The coyote reversed course and wasn’t seen again; however, I could hear him in the brush up on the wooded area behind 18525/18535 Springdale.
- We believe there is a den of them behind our house on Springdale. We hear them late at night and see them in our back yard each morning. We scare them off but they are not very frightened. I will contact Fish and Wildlife Services soon.
- My chickens are kept in the run after seeing feces after the coyote in my backyard Sunday morning. I don’t think we have other big dogs running free at night in our neighborhood.
8/6/15: I found fresh coyote poop in my yard on 8/3 (172nd and 12th NW). After disposing of it, I wondered about what diseases and parasites coyotes might carry. I found that these include: distemper, hepatitis, paro virus, rabies, tularemia, mange (caused by mites), ticks, fleas, and worms (including tapeworm which is spread through feces and heart worms which can spread to dogs via mosquito bites). Keep your pets’ shots and heart worm treatments up-to-date!
7/28/15: We had two coyotes emerge from our neighbors back yard (very wild and overgrown) on Richmond Beach Road this morning and they were in our back yard. We’ve also had our garden robbed a lot recently – particularly tomatoes – so they may have been hanging out for a while.
7/19/15: I had one in my backyard (17200 block of 12th NW) at 10:00 AM. On 7/20, I had one in the backyard (roughly 20 ft. from the backdoor) at 10:30 PM. I chased the coyotes both times, but they didn’t show much concern.
7/18/15: My sister-in-law, who lives on 175th in Innis Arden with her back yard adjacent to Coyote Reserve, told me that she heard sounds coming from the reserve behind her house on June 10th at approximately 3:00 AM. She said she thinks it was from a coyote and some other animal. They were terrible sounds of some creature being attacked with shrieks and howls. She also heard similar sounds again this last Saturday the 18th in the night, shrieks and howls; this time she said it sounded like a coyote attacking a dog.
7/18/15: If I had only received this email one day earlier, I might have saved our beloved 14 year old cat. He did not come home for breakfast Wednesday morning and when I read your email I feared the worst. Now that he has been gone for four days and with a coyote sighting just across the street from me, I do not expect him to return. At least we did not lose his brother too.
7/17/15: I saw a coyote walking across the street from the south side of the house on the corner of NW 177th Street and 14th Ave NW. It disappeared over the guardrail into Coyote Reserve at approximately 6:30 PM Friday evening, in broad daylight.
7/17/15: One took a hen from my yard two weeks ago. Suddenly I heard my chickens distressed and cackling, then saw the coyote dart across the backyard. One of four hens was gone.
7/17/15: Coyote sighting this morning at 6:20 AM at 1545 NW 190th.
7/17/15: Same coyotes lounging in my yard again (afternoon)
7/17/15: At about 6:30 PM this evening I was sitting outside. There was a bird enjoying himself in the sun about 10 yards away. There was a sudden fluttering of bird wings; I looked up to notice the tail of a coyote running into the bushes. I don’t know if he got the bird or not, but I’m glad he didn’t try to go after my cat that was sitting next to me. I tried to find where he went but he disappeared in the blink of an eye.
7/16/15: About four weeks ago on a Sunday (June 28 or 21), my Mom and I where driving on 10th NW and 175th when a coyote ran across 10th from the east side of the street into the Boeing Caretakers Drive Way. When I turned left to go west bound on 175th, the thing came out of the other side of the turn around and turned back toward where it came from and I honked the horn at it. This was at about 2:00PM in the afternoon, broad daylight.
7/15/15: We lost a cat we had almost 13 years to coyotes four weeks ago this Thursday. He was basically an outdoor cat we couldn’t keep inside. We knew immediately what had happened, but didn’t report it. Having lost two cats to coyotes 12 years ago, we had no illusions as to what had happened.
7/15/15: NW 185th — ran towards Blue Heron reserve
7/15/15: There were coyotes next door to us just in the last 10 minutes, I believe they sounded like they were on 186th but could have been in the ravine.
7/14/15: Large coyote sighted walking through our backyard at 170th and 10 NW; it headed up to the greenbelt between 10th and 12th NW after my wife ran it off.
7/13/15: Yesterday morning my wife noticed a large well-fed coyote walking through our backyard at 10th Ave NW and 170th. She opened the back door and scared it off. These types of coyote sighting have given us concern as we have preschoolers living on both sides of us (we notified their parents) and reports of missing cats on 10th.
7/11/15: I was walking in the Boeing creek reserve (gated path) on Saturday around 10AM and saw a large coyote run through the woods, off the path. This is my first sighting in the gated area.
7/6/15: At around 6:30 PM, I noticed two large coyotes sleeping in my backyard (NW 186th & 15th NW).
6/15/15: I let my cat out this morning around 6:00 am. Shortly after, I noticed a very large coyote chasing her. I shouted and the coyote changed course and darted back into Grouse reserve. This coyote may be one of the same coyotes seen yesterday a bit south of here on 13th, or, in another incident, about a month ago near Grouse.
6/15/15: At the corner of 180th NW and 8th NW.
6/11/15: At about 7:30 AM, I noticed one (possibly two) coyotes in the bushes along the north side of our lot on the 17700 block of 13th NW. At about 8:30 AM, the neighbor to the north noticed one coyote carrying a dead black and white cat around. The barking of both our labs didn’t faze the coyote(s) one bit.
