Another "thumbs up", this time for Chris Anderson, WASHINGTON STATE'S DEPT. OF FISH AND WILDLIFE biologist who states--"“Practically anywhere we have natural spaces, our suite of landscapes of built natural environments and greenbelts, coyotes are or will be there".......... "They are never going away"............ "He wants people to consider that because coyotes are not a species we can eliminate (nor should we), we should accept their presence".......... "That’s not to say that coyotes can’t be problematic, only that we do our best to live with them".........."We need to make a cultural shift to accepting coyotes and other wildlife as a part of our urban lives"........... "After all, would you rather live in a place devoid of life, or a place where people and animals coexist?"...... "There’s no utopia and we’ll always have a few clashes, but if you see a coyote, maybe think urban wildlife before you immediately jump to troublesome vermin"

Coyotes: not the problem

by Brendan McGarry
The Capitol Hill Times 

A coyote at Seattle’s Union Bay Natural
 Area. Brendan McGarry / The Capitol Hill Times

So there you are on an early morning walk with the dog. You see an animal slinking across the road ahead of you and think, “someone’s dog got out.” You do a double take, because that’s not a domestic dog, that’s a coyote. What’s your immediate thought? Trouble. This isn’t just a made up scenario, it’s a situation that’s been reported many times in Seattle, even in our own Interlaken Park.

Urban coyotes exist in Seattle, even on Capitol Hill, because of people. Before people of European descent arrived, they stuck to open plains, the shrub steppe of Eastern Washington, while gray wolves dominated the forest and mountains. As people moved in and eradicated wolves, coyotes were able to fill a new niche. Intelligent and omnivorous, with plastic behaviors, allowing them to shift their activities to night, they’ve done an excellent job of following people around, often unnoticed. 

Chris Anderson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s District 12 Biologist, has a vested interest in educating people to live peacefully with wildlife, it’s his job. “Practically anywhere we have natural spaces, our suite of landscapes of built natural environments and greenbelts, coyotes are or will be there. They are never going away,” Anderson said. He wants people to consider that because coyotes are not a species we can eliminate (nor should we), we should accept their presence. That’s not to say that coyotes can’t be problematic, only that we do our best to live with them. 

While they are certainly wild animals, worthy of a respectful distance, coyotes aren’t an inherent threat to people. They are not major vectors for diseases humans can contract (though dogs are at risk), nor are attacks common. There are only three documented coyote bites in Washington State, the first in 1996, compared to approximately 100 annually from dogs. Plus, most coyotes are happy to avoid interactions with people. The Cook County, Illinois Urban Coyote Ecology and Management project, which focused research on urban coyotes in Greater Chicago, demonstrated that animals “exhibited strong spatial and temporal avoidance of people” and went about their business with little conflict or notice. Anderson also noted, “The research has shown than the presence of the animals aren’t a problem, but more often people are.” 

Clashes with wildlife typically occur when we don’t follow the rules. Leaving out trash or food waste and feeding pets or other wildlife outdoors all can cause problems. While coyotes are happy to eat rats and mice, they are also opportunistic, a reason they’ve been so successful. Any habituation to humans is problematic and our pets often pay the price. While there’s little to keep outdoors cats safe from predation (besides keeping them indoors), we can keep our dogs on leash (and are also legally obliged to do so). This minimizes potential interactions, because while a coyote actively avoids people, a loose dog can easily come face to face with a wild relative. We care a lot about our pets, and understandably when they are predated upon or injured, we want retribution.

However, while problem coyotes do exist, removal is a final option. Trying to eradicate populations can actually cause more problems. Coyotes live in territorial family groups, killing an alpha or removing a territorial group (merely because someone decided they didn’t like them around) can actually open up areas to transient animals that are often young or naive. These coyotes may not know to avoid people and take more risks. Seeing a bold animal repeatedly in your yard or scavenging your trash isn’t normal, so if you continually find yourself encountering one, you might want to seek advice from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Lethal action, while an option, is last on a long list of solutions and can be done by permit only.

From where I stand, it’s pretty amazing that coyotes live in the middle of a city and that people can see them in the Arboretum, Interlaken Park, or St. Mark’s Greenbelt. Anderson agrees, suggesting that we need to make a cultural shift to accepting coyotes and other wildlife as a part of our urban lives. After all, would you rather live in a place devoid of life, or a place where people and animals coexist? There’s no utopia and we’ll always have a few clashes, but if you see a coyote, maybe think “urban wildlife” before you immediately jump to “troublesome vermin.”