This young coyote has been spotted recently in Volunteer Park. (Images: @eccentric.expanse with permission to CHS)

There is something hopeful about Volunteer Park being able to host thousands of people to kick off the city’s 50th Pride festivities while also making space for a coyote or three.

Recent appearances by a young coyote in the popular Capitol Hill park have officials hopeful that visitors will take care and keep their pets on a leash to keep the green space safe for the wild canines.

The Seattle Parks Department tells CHS it has been monitoring reported sightings in the park and is working closely with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to follow “their policies and recommendations for urban wildlife in parks.” The parks department was also working to get additional signs posted alerting people to the coyotes.

“We’ve had coyote activity in the Arboretum in past years and have managed it with notification signage and collaboration with WDFW,” a spokesperson tells CHS.

It is best if everyone works extra hard to get along. The coyotes face serious consequences if the situation isn’t working out.

“Because coyotes are wild animals with large ranges, relocation is not considered to be a viable option,” the spokesperson said. “Were coyotes to be removed from a greenbelt or park, other coyotes would quickly re-inhabit the area.”

With relocation not an option, conflict can lead to removal. In 2012, the Department of Agriculture was brought in to hunt down and kill a Volunteer Park-area coyote after it exhibited aggressive behavior. The field necropsy performed by the federal biologist showed the coyote was around six or seven years old. It survived what is described as a “traumatic hip injury” at some point in its life and “had a normal number of external parasites, such as ticks and lice.”

The parks representative says Seattle’s parks and coyotes have a mostly positive relationship.

“WDFW are the experts on coyotes and other wildlife, but just in general we can tell you that there are coyotes in many parks throughout Seattle and they normally pose no danger to people.” UPDATE: The WDFW tells CHS they are also keeping track of increased coyote reports in the Greenwood area and as well of reports of black-tailed deer around the Lake Washington Arboretum and Carkeek Park.

If a coyote comes near someone, Seattle Parks recommends, people are encouraged to follow the recommendations in the signage — act big and keep loud. And keep your pets on a leash.

As for the young visitor’s appearance around the park’s recent Pride events, the coyote holds a space in the cultures of Lushootseed-speaking peoples that might fit with the celebration of LGBTQ communities and queer culture. Many legends tell of coyote’s trickster spirit, including, according to Salish Myths and Legends, “ribald behavior and breaking of cultural taboos.”

“Coyote on one hand is responsible for imposing order on the world to make it ready for humankind, while on the other hand he seems to run afoul of or break all of the culture’s mores,” the researchers write. “In the same narrative, he can vacillate between trickster and dupe, punishing others for their wrongdoing but also being punished for his own follies.”

Coyote, then, is a bit like you and me — and also a fun character to have around.

Coyote in Lushootseed is sbiaw — pronounced sbiˈɑw (Images: @eccentric.expanse with permission to CHS)

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