Coyotes spotted in San Francisco Muni tunnel

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco Muni tunnel had two unlikely, four-legged guests recently. 

At the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency's monthly board meeting on Feb. 4, Director Julie Kirschbaum shared that a pair of coyotes were spotted in a subway tunnel in late January.

"We had two furry guests in the central subway," Kirschbaum said. 

She said a sweeper train noticed the animals in the tunnel near Bryant Street on Jan. 27 while doing safety checks to open Muni that morning.

"When you get a call from the transportation management center at 6 a.m., you never know what you're going to get," she said. 

Since it was too early in the morning for animal control to respond to the tunnel, Kirschbaum said the coyotes eventually found their own way out.

"We continued to sweeping, following the coyotes into the Chinatown station," she said. 

Other coyote sightings

The backstory:

Coyotes are not uncommon in San Francisco. 

In September, the National Park Service shared "coyote alerts" after three dogs were killed by the wild animals. 

In July, a child was bitten by a coyote at the San Francisco Botanical Garden. 

According to an urban wildlife expert at UC Berkeley, an estimated 100 to 125 coyotes live in San Francisco.

Professor Chris Schell told KTVU in September that most coyotes are afraid of humans, but will still try to protect their territory. 

"We should see coyotes as beacons of biodiverse systems, as helpers in us maintaining coexistence with all types of organisms in this city rather than seeing them as a villain," he said last fall.