SEATTLE – Jones Avenue Northwest used to be a quiet residential street in Ballard where kids played outside and daily dog walks often turned into social hour.
However, some new summer squatters are disturbing the peace after taking over a property on the block. And, from what neighbors tell FOX 13, they’re real animals.
“The coyotes have definitely been the disruption of our neighborhood for two weeks now,” said Miranda Dube, who lives next door. “We heard them yesterday at 5 a.m.”
Miranda says the pack of coyotes settled in at the house next door about two weeks ago, quickly becoming the loudest neighbors on the block. But, she said she was most shocked by what happened next.Â
“They were actually on the roof,” she said. “They were just right up there on that roof sunbathing.”
On any given day, she says the Wiley coyotes can be seen catching rays on top of both the neighbor’s house and shed at all hours of the day. They’ve also been seen peeping in her windows and backyard from above.Â
“We’ve seen the coyotes running from underneath this tree here, popping up over here,” she said, pointing to the top of her fence.Â
The chaos continued on the ground below as well, with raids on refuge bins, some coyotes were even caught on cell phone video relieving themselves in yards as neighbors looked on.Â
“Not super comfortable with it. People have pets susceptible to being a snack. There’s lots of small children around,” said Pete Hall, another neighbor.
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With the coyotes acting like they own the place, the raccoon family that once played in Miranda’s yard disappeared. And with kids like her daughter Stella so young, she’s concerned. Â
“We don’t ever let our eyes off her anyway, but now we don’t want her three feet from us when she is playing out front,” said Miranda.Â
Neighbors say the coyotes have also been following them on walks. They even growled at one neighbor and his 14-year-old dog Timber.
“For the most part, they are not scared of us, they follow us with our pets,” said Miranda.
Melissa Fedorchenko says coyotes were also watching her corgi from the rooftop this weekend.Â
“We want him to stay just as he is in one piece,” said Melissa.Â
She also has a child, which prompted her to make a sign she placed in her yard to warn others about the potential danger.
“It says ‘caution coyotes are in the backyard ahead,’” she said.
Even Miranda’s two big 100-lb dogs don’t seem to deter the rooftop residents. She says the coyotes follow the dogs and her husband when they go on their daily walks.Â
Neighbors say they’ve tried yelling at the coyotes or throwing things at them to scare them off, but they appear unafraid.
The property owner where the coyotes are staying said on Wednesday that he had just fixed a fence that he believes will stop the coyotes from returning and also put out some other “deterrents”. Â Â
Neighbors hope the new high-altitude additions are evicted before someone gets hurt.Â
“I think they found kind of a vacant lot, or what they thought was vacant, and made themselves at home,” said Miranda.Â
The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and interviews.
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