In honor of Super Tuesday, I'm checking in on the coyote poll. You know about the coyote, right? In early January, folks reported a little white-brown-gold number loping through Discovery Park too brazenly for its own good. Eventually, there were reports the coyote stalked walkers with small dogs, skittered across porches at nearby Navy housing, and severely injured a cat. This is the sort of behavior that can get an animal killed.

For the moment, plans to shoot or trap and euthanize the coyote appear to be on hold. But a few days ago, The Seattle Times asked readers to pass sentence on the carnivore in the park. As of tonight, forty-eight percent of readers (487 people) voted to relocate the coyote, 32 percent said leave it alone, and 20 percent said kill it. That final slice represents 210 people who gave Canis latrans the thumbs down.

These results surprise and sadden me. Coyotes almost never attack people, and it seems  folks living near Discovery Park can take simple precautions to protect their pets. Meanwhile, we can make room for a little wildness in our midst and consider things from the coyote's point of view, while someone figures out a nonlethal solution.

From dogsledding in Fairbanks to tracking down lost pups with a pet detective in Fresno, Pet Dish blogger Lisa Wogan explores the world of dogs and their people for Bark magazine, and in books such as Unleashed: Climbing Canines, Hiking Hounds, Fishing Fidos, and Other Daring Dogs. She lives in Seattle with two dogs, Lulu and Renzo.

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