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Wild coyotes live among us — is your cat on their menu?

caption: A hungry wet coyote wearing a GPS radio collar roams the Elysian Park after a heavy rain Thursday, May 16, 2019, in Los Angeles. The National Park Services, NPS is monitoring the coyotes' locations to study how they survive in Los Angeles' urban environment.
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A hungry wet coyote wearing a GPS radio collar roams the Elysian Park after a heavy rain Thursday, May 16, 2019, in Los Angeles. The National Park Services, NPS is monitoring the coyotes' locations to study how they survive in Los Angeles' urban environment.
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Wild carnivores live among us. We may not know the exact number of coyotes here in Seattle but we should get used to them being here because they probably won't be leaving anytime soon.

Listener Marianne Scruggs lives next to Cowan Park in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood, along with a resident coyote.

"I've seen that coyote twice and another neighbor saw it once just walking up Brooklyn," said Scruggs.

Scruggs thought the coyote always looked healthy and plump, which lead her to ask how coyotes live in Seattle and what they eat.

On this episode of SoundQs, conservation scientist Robert Long tells us an urban environment can actually be good habitat for a coyote.

"They exist in places where they can find green space or parks or a ditch where they can have safety but then venture out and take advantage of all types of food sources from rodents, to rabbits, to human sources of food," said Long.

Listen to the episode by clicking the play button above or on your favorite podcast app. SoundQs is a weekly podcast where our KUOW reporters tackle questions submitted by our listeners.

Have a question about the Seattle region for us to answer? Drop it here:

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