Bobcat in North Seattle

Healthy bobcat sauntering through a Pinehurst yard
Photo by Keri B

By Diane Hettrick

A bobcat was casually strolling around north Seattle in the Pinehurst neighborhood around 8th NE.

It was in a backyard on NE 123rd, then seen near the pea patch at the Jackson golf course. The day before these sightings it was walking across a fence at 5th NE and NE 120th.

A Community Science Specialist at the Woodland Park Zoo thought it looked like a very healthy bobcat. The zoo has a 2021 video of a bobcat in the Pinehurst area, so this one is not the first in this neighborhood.  

Bobcats have been seen in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park but they usually stay out of sight and avoid humans. This one is unusual in being out during the daytime.

Bobcats are not aggressive toward humans but it is not a good idea to tempt them with your cats and small dogs. 

The Woodland Park Zoo maintains a web-based carnivore reporting site – Carnivore Spotter – which allows residents of greater Seattle to report sightings of carnivore species:

• Black Bear
• Bobcat
• Cougar / Mountain Lion
• Coyote
• Opossum
• Raccoon
• River Otter
• Red Fox

Carnivore Spotter launched in August 2019 and Washington state residents logged more than 6,500 observations of local carnivores in the first two years!

I lived here for 20 years before I found out there were coyotes in the neighborhood. Now they are out in the open everywhere - including a trail across my back yard. 

I've been collecting photos of these carnivores and the only one on the list that completely surprises me is the red fox.

The bears don't stay here - they just run through. There are a couple of cougars in the densely wooded areas - Lake Forest Park, The Highlands. Opossums and raccoons are everywhere but they stay out of sight unless you feed your pets outside (or leave an uncovered  compost bucket on your porch).

River otters used to be elusive but not so much these days - and they have been reported in Ronald Bog, Echo Lake, and McAleer Creek. I'm still waiting for a photo from one of the Twin Ponds.

Not carnivores, but deer seem to live in every green space and occasionally wander through neighborhoods in Ridgecrest and Innis Arden. We have both mountain beavers and beavers. Also hares, Grey squirrels, Douglas squirrels, rats, mice, shrews, moles.

I've heard it said that a successful wildlife population is one that you never see. Ours may be out in the open because of habitat loss due to human encroachment on their territory - or possibly because they no longer fear humans - not a good thing.

Whatever you do, do not feed wildlife, either on purpose or by accident. Consider keeping your pets inside so they don't become a meal for a coyote.