Two years ago in Laurelhurst, an upscale Seattle neighborhood, five coyotes played in the grass near a bus stop.

There was the mom coyote, the dad coyote and three pups.

And every morning, the Metro bus driver would pull up and chat with riders about these sweet bouncing pups.

But then they were gone.

And coming from their den in the grassy park surrounding a conference center was “a huge stain of blood,” a neighbor told KING 5 News.

Wildlife Services, a federal agency, confirmed they had killed three of the coyotes in a three-night stake-out. Someone had called the agency, they said in a statement, saying the coyotes had ventured too close to humans and neighborhood cats and dogs.

And so, the coyotes had to go.

Two years later, there are more coyote sightings than ever in Seattle, including in Laurelhurst where this coyote family group was killed.

Robert Long, senior conservation scientist at the Woodland Park Zoo, said these sightings may seem more numerous because of social media, but he said it’s also likely that coyotes are increasing in Seattle, as they are in cities nationwide.

Coyotes have roamed Seattle since the 1950s, Long said. “As wolves were eradicated in the early 1900s, coyotes started filling the space.”

Coyotes, native to the central area of the U.S., have shown they are smart and adaptable and may have a “genetic predisposition for colonizing new places and adapting to people,” Long said.

I called Long after reading about a coyote sighting on Nextdoor, a social media site where neighbors will post about missing packages, home break-ins and found chickens.

Hillary Miller, who has lived in Crown Hill since 1991, spotted a bushy-tailed canine from her upstairs window around 9:30 a.m. It appeared healthy, with a thick winter coat and its tongue hanging out.

“I was upstairs, looking out of one of the bedroom windows at the crows making noise," she said, "and I looked down and thought, ‘Why is someone’s dog off-leash and in the middle of the street?’”

When Miller realized this was not just any canine, she summoned her husband and daughter from downstairs. (The crows, meanwhile, dive-bombed the coyote.) Her daughter took this video: