Video of Coyote At Yesler Swamp

 Neighbors regularly report sightings of coyotes throughout the neighborhood.

One neighbor sent in this email recently saying:

Our son was walking his Corgi...and then saw this coyote prancing through the swamp on Wednesday, March 17th. You can see the video here.   

Neighbors have reported other coyote sightings:

• 46th Avenue NE and NE 47th Street
• 50th Street near 45th Ave NE
• overgrown area east of Villa Academy
• NE 41st Street and the Boulevard (43rd Avenue NE)
• Union Bay Natural area
• NE 39th Street and 49th Avenue NE
• 48th Ave NE just south of Laurelhurst park
• 46th Ave NE and NE 38th Street
• 44th Ave NE
• NE 41st Street and 48th Avenue NE 

One neighbor said:

We have lived in Laurelhurst for several decades and have regularly seen coyotes over all the many years. We see them often late at night and early in the morning in the back alley. The coyotes are part of the urban and suburban landscape who naturally clean up the environment of rodents, rabbits and the like. This was especially true when the dump near where the Urban Horticulture Center existed. Coyotes are known to be hunters and include cats and rabbits in their prey and rodents. Keep your animals inside at night.

Another neighbor told the Laurelhurst Blog:

The Washington Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services specialist told me in a phone call that coyotes' main source of food is small dogs and domestic cats. They are excellent and opportunistic hunters. If you have indoor/outdoor cats, as we do, we were told that when they become victims they are no match for a coyote.  An urban coyote has a hunting radius of up to 1 mile. If you happened to encounter one, it was recommended to make them feel very unwelcome (i.e. throw rocks, make loud noises, etc. to scare them off). The more comfortable they feel, the more aggressive they get.  

In June of 2016, a pack of coyotes was shot by the USDA APHIS wildlife services, supposedly initiated by a call from Talaris management who told a neighbor:

The Talaris team was informed that the Department of Agriculture received multiple inquiries from the surrounding community regarding the increasingly aggressive nature of the coyotes living in the area. Wildlife specialists visited the neighborhood on multiple occasions to assess the safety of residents, Talaris guests, and the coyotes.

Jeanine Neskey, USDA:APHIS - Wildlife Services, commented at the time:

Wildlife services received a request to assist in the management of several coyotes near the Laurelhurst neighborhood in Seattle. The coyotes had become increasingly aggressive toward people and pets in the area. Operations were conducted for three nights and included the use of a call box, a device which mimics animal distress sounds and attracts coyotes. Three coyotes were lethally removed. One coyote ran into heavy brambles on an adjacent property making it difficult to retrieve the body, and was removed first thing the following morning. It is believed there are no remaining coyotes on the property at this time.

Here is the King5 story regarding the incident titled "Neighbors divided over 3 coyotes killed in Laurelhurst."

For quite some time, residents mostly living  and using the trails near the Center for Urban Horticulture (3501 NE 41st Street) have regularly report coyote sightings, especially, during the spring of last year.   

Here is a post from the Union Bay Watch Blog published by Larry Hubbell, long-time photographer and birder about coyotes at nearby Union Bay.

Several neighbors suggested this site to learn more about coyote behaviour.

Here is information the Laurelhurst Blog has posted about living with urban coyotes.