Wildlife rescue - city workers free trapped coyote from storm water drain

City of Sammamish workers spent close to an hour and a half on Wednesday afternoon wrangling a coyote puppy out of a storm water drain at the intersection of SE 44th Street and SE 230th Way.

The pup was one of two that had been wandering the underground network, yelping and howling, before workers managed to trap them between two drains.

The second one was trapped later in the day with the help of Eastside Fire & Rescue. Both coyotes were released back into the woods where officials said they heard the mother.

Neighbors, who have been feeding the pups through the drain grates, curiously watched from the sidewalk as city workers sent soccer balls, pipes and feather dusters down the drain in an attempt to scare the young pups out.

“I think that we forget that they’re here sometimes with all the development up here,” said resident Jody Riley. "It's part of living up against a green belt. As long as they don't hurt anyone I'm fine with them."

Acting Infrastructure Maintenance Manager for the city, Kyle Endelman, spent part of the morning negotiating the best way to remove the pups, and conceding that it was a task with which he had little experience.

"The reason we're not very good at this is because we don't do this very often," he said.

Nick Riley, Jody's son, said that on Tuesday he saw five coyotes in their backyard.

"I'm pretty sure this is the most exciting thing that has ever happened in our neighborhood," he said.