In Memoriam of "Boofus" ...

This past Sunday, while my grandparent-in-laws were watching my in-laws little Maltese (a breed of dog), two coyotes came down from a park behind thier house in West Seattle, grabbed the dog and took off, leaving "Nana" to witness the entire event. Seattle Animal Control was closed Sunday and Monday, but when contacted Tuesday, told us that they considered coyotes to be a "nuisance animal" and that they would not take any action unless a human was attacked.

Why should we have to wait until someone gets hurt for Animal Control to do their jobs? How many more family pets in West Seattle have to be killed before Animal Control will consider it an issue? Would you want your kids injuries or deaths to be the ones that finally got Animal Control to come take care of the problem?

Our family is devastated. The first memory I have of my wife was when she brought "Boofus" to school to show her friends, and Boo seemed to know right away that I was a dog-person. Boo was a constant companion for my mother-in-law while my father-in-law is away on business, as is frequently the case. Poor Nana is having a hard time sleeping without reliving the scene of the two coyotes taking Boo away. I was very upset at first, but that's given way to anger over Animal Control's willingness to let someone get hurt (and other pets killed) before they are willing to deal with these wild dogs.

I've sent a copy of this post to some of the local news media. Hopefully, if they're willing to start asking some questions, someone will decide that it's worth being proactive.