SEATTLE — A coyote was trapped and killed at the Washington Park Arboretum following a series of dangerous and close encounters with humans.
Officials were worried the coyote in question would eventually attack humans.
Coyotes are usually afraid of people and keep their distance but according to the City of Seattle, this one wasn’t.
“They are not safe to interact with in any way, shape or form,” said Rachel Schulkin of Seattle Parks and Recreation.
Three incidents contributed to the trapping and killing.
The first: a coyote was caught on camera stealing a woman’s jacket at the arboretum. According to the city, there was also a report of a coyote stealing food from right next to a person and attacking a dog on a leash.
There was concern that the behavior would escalate, so the city reached out to the US Department of Agriculture and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for help.
“The last thing we want to see are coyotes attacking humans,” Schulkin said. “We don’t want to see coyotes actually running up and biting humans because a human has entered their den space. We don’t want to see them chasing after humans.”
The coyote that was killed reportedly became so used to humans that its sleep schedule flipped. Instead of hunting at night like coyotes normally do, it slept so it could mooch off people during the day.
“The arboretum is a really populated park. There are a lot of people around,” Schulkin said. “We want people to feel like they can utilize this space safely and we also want the coyotes to be in their natural habitat safely. That’s been possible for decades, so we know we can get back there.”
The solution is avoiding the coyotes and “hazing” one if you see it. That means yelling at it, waving your arms, throwing things at it and even spraying it with a hose. Hazing is meant to show coyotes humans are not safe.
Schulkin also advises not leaving any food waste of pet food outside so coyotes are forced to feed the natural way.
“We are hopeful that if we can all kind of intensify these efforts in the next couple of months, the coyotes will get the message that interacting with humans is not safe and we can all peacefully use the park together,” she said.
The city said it still has experts watching the coyotes in the area for suspicious behavior but has no immediate plans to catch and kill another one.
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