>I would love to know how many coyotes their really are in parks in Seattle.
I
>know there have been some reported in Discovery, and I read somewhere
>that there used to be some in Seward park, but they were removed after too
>many cats disappeared. I don't know if the ones at Carkeek are confirmed or
>just a neighborhood rumor.


Tim Quinn, then a grad student at the UW, now at the WDFW, did his
doctoral dissertation on "The Distribution, movements, and diet of coyotes
in urban areas of western Washington", available through the University of
Washington library.

His dissertation includes a map of public sightings by park
groundskeepers. There are many sightings around Carkeek, and a handful each
near Magnuson, the Arboretum, Woodland Park and a few other areas, but not
Discovery or Seward. Quinn also captured and radio-collared urban coyotes.
In urban areas, coyotes mostly occur and travel through remnant forest
patches. "Three active coyote dens were discovered in north Seattle (two in
Carkeek and one in Pinehurst) during the course of this study. All were
located in thick second growth forest patches surrounded by urban
developments." (By "Carkeek" and "Pinehurst", Quinn is evidently referring
not just to the parks proper, but the park and adjacent area.)

Coyote sightings were more abundant in north than south Seattle. His data
were collected between 1988 and 1990.

Kelly Cassidy