KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

Jake and Spike are being terrorized by coyotes. What should they do?

Mar 14, 2025, 5:00 AM

coyote attacks in Bellevue...

A coyote walks along a wall and behind various bushes. (Photo: Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

(Photo: Mark Rightmire/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

A string of coyote attacks in Bellevue has left residents on edge. The Seattle Times reported Wednesday that authorities killed a coyote due to its threat to community members.

Spike O’Neill, co-host of “The Jake and Spike Show,” on KIRO Newsradio said he has coyotes on his property.

“I’m never gonna get rid of them,” he shared. “You can’t.”

Spike said his pup wanted to go outside last week, but he could hear coyotes howling in the distance. He walked downstairs and, to his dismay, heard a coyote right outside his fence.

“I closed the door and I woke the lovely Mrs. O’Neill and said, ‘Do not let the pup out tonight.'”

Related from MyNorthwest: Coyote bites 5-year-old boy, attempts to drag him away in Renton, agency reports

Jake shares eerie experience amid coyote attacks in Bellevue

Jake Skorheim, co-host of “Jake and Spike,” had his own creepy encounter with a coyote.

“I went around my deck, I heard it, it was like 10:30 at night,” he shared. “Everyone was in bed. I’m just sitting there, watching dumb stuff, and I hear this freaky noise, because from a distance it sounds like kids playing, the sound of like my kids playing in the woods. Sometimes it sounds like they’re screaming.”

Spike made the point that humans moved into the animals’ space, so can we really blame coyotes for roaming around town?

“To be fair, we’ve made our way into their neighborhood first,” Spike said. “It’s funny. I was gonna say you don’t see coyotes in Ballard, but you do now. I think the biggest coyote I’ve ever seen was wandering through the parking lots. I think there’s a UW Medical Center there now, but there’s also North Seattle Community College right up across from what used to be Northgate Mall, on the west side of the freeway. I saw a coyote walking across an empty parking lot there.”

Jake said it’s unnerving when the coyotes get close to his house.

“It freaks me out because they come into my yard sometimes, just like there’s a pack of them,” he said.

More from Jake and Spike: Jake and Spike make the case for, and against, school vouchers

What to do if faced with a coyote

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) keeps a list of tips for dealing with coyotes on its website. Two key tips are for people to keep their garbage secure and never to feed coyotes.

If faced with a coyote, the agency says to never run away. Instead, make loud noises, wave sticks, squirt them with a hose or “haze” the animal.

“Stand tall, stare into the eyes of the coyote and shout at it,” WDFW’s website states. “You also can throw something at it.”

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Jake and Spike are being terrorized by coyotes. What should they do?