Bold coyote shot by agent in Bellevue

BELLEVUE, Wash. – A coyote that had apparently lost its fear of people was shot and killed Friday in this east Seattle suburb by an agent of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The young male is believed to be the same coyote that nipped two children in the area Tuesday, officials told KING-TV. Both children, and a woman bitten in March, are undergoing rabies shots.

Sgt. Kim Chandler shot the coyote with his service revolver early Friday morning at the edge of a wooded ravine.

“I pulled out my service revolver and waited for it to keep coming, it just kept walking toward me,” Chandler told KING-TV. The state agency said the animal’s head was too damaged to allow rabies testing. The carcass was taken to a local veterinarian for a necropsy exam.

Although there has never been a confirmed case of rabies in a coyote in Washington, the disease has occurred in coyotes in other areas of the country, said Kristin Mansfield, a veterinarian for the wildlife agency.

The 24-pound animal was shot on a trail where a local man reported being charged by a coyote that retreated only after he threw a piece of wood at it. Chandler said he saw a television news interview with the man, recognized the location, and went out early Friday to see if he could call out the coyote.

Wildlife officers had also set traps in the area.

“This animal was definitely a problem coyote, although we can’t say for sure it was the same coyote that recently attacked the children,” said Capt. Bill Hebner, who supervises agency enforcement activities in the North Puget Sound region.

About 20 coyotes live in the woods around Eastgate, but they generally keep their distance from people.