Reports of ‘aggressive’ coyotes near Washington Park Arboretum

Recently, there’s been several coyote sightings in the Montlake area, near Washington Park Arboretum. Some of those interactions have been very close and aggressive.

“Well, I used to go at least twice a week, but I don’t go past here anymore,” said John O’Neil.

O’Neil and several others have either seen or heard about recent coyote sightings.

“I actually saw one a couple of weeks ago. I was running along the trail and I saw it over the hump before I’m going to run so I just decided to see what it was going to do, but then not take my chances and just run the other way,” said Chany Ry.

Seattle Parks and Recreation put up signs around the park to notify people. They recommend you don’t feed or run from the coyotes, and ask that you keep your pet on a leash.

“Saturday we saw one, and then back in June… There’s been a couple of sightings, but we see them pretty much once a week,” said Ian Charman.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says they are also aware, and say coyote sightings are common in the area.

>>Tips for living with coyotes from WDFW

Charman and O’Neil say they’ve both had close interactions.

“The behavior I saw was definitely sort of circling, maybe looking as if it was trying to get an angle, so I turned to look at it the whole time and just made sure I was keeping an eye on it, and it lost interest, and walked away,” said Charman.

Ian says he’s also heard of some aggressive interactions.

“They mentioned that their 11-pound dog had been grabbed while on the leash. It’s a little scary, but I appreciate they are wild animals so we should appreciate them, just follow the advice and keep loud, make sure that you’re being observant,” said Charman.