I don't know any other way to say this. It seems like the park has said this in every way they possibly can. I have published this repeatedly. And yet, here we go again! Dogs are not allowed in West Hylebos Park.
We've said it this way.
We've said it this way.
We've said it this way.
And, I've blogged and blogged and blogged and blogged untl I'm blue in the face and ready to pull my hair out. And yet, today I meet.....
This cute little dog.
And this little dog. Notice that not only are both dogs in the park, but neither dog is on a leash, and both dogs are very small. This dog's name is Molly. When I told Molly's owners that dogs weren't allowed in the park, one of them said, "I know." When I told her that if she really loved her dog, she'd take her out of the park. She looked at me as if I were nuts and demanded to know why. When I told her about the coyotes, she pshawed and informed me that if the coyotes came after her dog, she'd simply shoo them off. These girls were very young and extremely naive. I hope that Molly doesn't have to pay the price for their naivete. She's so darned cute that it breaks my heart to know that she belongs to owners who care so little for her welfare.
So, much as I hate to have to do it, I'm forced to address the "No Pets Allowed" issue head-on one more time. In June of 2008, the Federal Way Mirror published an article entitled "Coyotes Bring Concern To Residents". In this article they quoted Tom Keegan, section manager for upland game and fur bearers for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. "The suburban coyotes tend to be great scavengers of whatever is available, including pets," he said. The Federal Way Mirror went on to report that, by the end of May, residents of a neighborhood off of 344th St. were spotting coyotes at all hours of the day and that at least two cats had disappeared.
On September 20th of 2010, King 5 News broadcast a video-clip of a woman who claimed to have been surrounded and attacked by a pack of coyotes while walking her dogs in Hylebos Park. Although we subsequently proved that the woman had not been walking her dog in West Hylebos Park, but at least a mile north of the park, the woman was still surrounded and threatened by the coyotes. Those of us who work in West Hylebos Park believe it was the presence of the dogs, not the woman, that provoked the attack.
On January 23, 2012, the Federal Way Mirror published another article entitled, "Coyotes: Federal Way man wants to shoot them," by Greg Allmain. In this article, the Mirror quoted a citizen, Donald Barovic, with property in the West Hylebos Creek area, as stating that coyotes prowl his property and are killing and eating his livestock. Mr. Barovic stated that he'd seen seven coyotes in the past four days and that, "they are becoming very aggressive and hungry, and I lost six goats." According to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, coyotes have been known to eats cats and small dogs. The Mirror has published past reports on pets that were likely mutilated and eaten by coyotes.
On December 23, 2010, I met a man and woman who were absolutely frantic. They'd been walking their two dachshunds when a pack of coyotes appeared. The dogs got excited, broke loose from their owners, and went after the coyotes. The owners had managed to locate one of the dachshunds and shut it up in their car, but they requested my help in locating the other dog. After an intensive ten-minute search, we located the other dachshund. It had been killed by the coyotes, who were in the process of devouring it when we found them. The owner of the dachshund was heart-broken and wanted to go back and get a shovel from his vehicle so that he could bury his pet. I advised him that it was not a good idea to try to take the dog away from the coyotes, as the dog was coyote-food now and the coyotes would defend their food.
Coyotes love to eat rabbits, of which West Hylebos Park has plenty. Without the coyotes to keep the rabbit population down, we'd have rabbits coming out of our ears. The coyotes also keep the rabbit population down on my sister's farm. Every spring she can hear the rabbits screaming as the coyotes turn them into dinner. It upsets her so much that she's been known to stick her head out of the back door and scream at the coyotes to leave the bunnies alone. When the coyotes kill the rabbits on her farm they tend to eat the top half of the rabbit down to about the level of the intestines and then leave the bottom half of the rabbits behind as garbage. Dead cats have been found on and around Twin Lakes Golf Course in exactly this condition.....neatly severed in half, as if by an guillotine, the top half eaten and the bottom half left behind to mark the kill. A friend of mine, in Federal Way, lives in a home whose backyard runs directly into Dash Point State Park. She and her husband have often seen coyotes at the park end of their property. Last autumn one of the their beautiful cats went missing. The cat has not been seen since. So, we've documented cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, and chickens being killed and eaten by coyotes in Federal Way.
Rebecca Gorodyskyi took this photograph of a coyote pup at Marlake. We know that a pack of five coyotes was visiting West Hylebos Park and that this pack had cubs last year, so we suspect that the pack has grown to at least seven to nine coyotes. A full-grown coyote weighs fifteen to forty-five pounds. How much does your dog weigh? Do you really think you can get your dog away from a hungry coyote? Do you really believe that a coyote won't defend itself against an excited canine? Do you really want to take that chance with your beloved pet? Think about it.
Teri I. Lenfest
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