When Angela Schonbok’s favorite cat did not return to the family’s north-end home after hunting voles one night recently, she knew something had gone terribly wrong.

A few days later, Schonbok’s fears were confirmed when  she found the cat’s collar in a patch of woods across the road. Since then she has learned that several cats have disappeared this summer from a neighborhood close by, and many believe coyotes are to blame.

Schonbok knew that coyotes live on the island, she said, but had not anticipated they would come to her residential neighborhood. Nor did she know about the missing cats.

“I feel very responsible, she said, fighting tears. “I did not realize the extent to which it was happening.”

Animals wander off for many reasons, and it’s often impossible to determine if a pet has fallen victim to a coyote. However, experts stress that coyotes are active in many areas of the island now, including the north end. The coyotes are here to stay, they add, and the best way to co-exist is to prevent incidents, including by keeping cats and dogs in at night and making an effort to keep coyotes wary of people.

“The number one message is prevention,” said Bianca Perla of the Vashon Nature Center. “It is better to prevent  things and teach the coyotes to stay out of human areas.”

To help in that effort, the  Coyote Working Group has formed with assistance from the Vashon Nature Center. The group came together last year after coyotes killed three sheep at the Vashon Sheepdog Trials and government officials who were brought in to assist killed two coyotes.

Since the group formed, it has focused on research and education by meeting with government wildlife officials, conducting a “howl study” on the island and creating materials for farmers, pet owners and the general public to learn more about the animals and how to best live with them.

The group is diverse and includes people who raise sheep, biologists, members of the Sportsmen’s Club and representatives from Vashon Island Pet Protectors, according to Karen Smith, a member of the group and an architect who has worked on many animal-related projects, including the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and the PAWS Campus in Lynnwood.

One of her hopes, she said, is that the group’s efforts will balance the conversation about coyotes. The animals, while often derided, are beneficial, she said, as they help control the island’s abundant rodent, deer and racoon populations.

The Vashon Nature Center has taken the lead on research and as part of that effort conducted a “howl survey,” traveling Vashon one night in July, broadcasting coyote howls over a megaphone and waiting for answering howls in response. In the summer, Perla added, pups are just learning to howl and cannot help but respond.

The group received no responses south of the Tahlequah “Y,” Perla said, adding that she has received few reports of sightings or howls from that area.

The group did, however, draw responses from family groups in the Wax Orchard area, the Needle Creek neighborhood and at the north end, near Sea Breeze Farm.

Perla encourages islanders who see or hear coyotes to report the information to the nature center. Currently, it receives three to four coyote reports per week.

“The more people we hear from, the better we can use the data,” she said.

So far it is not clear just how many coyotes live on Vashon, and the nature center and the working group have installed cameras to help figure that out. Pack size can vary considerably, Perla said, from as small as a mating pair to as large as a pair with pups and juveniles.

Regardless of the numbers, some say it is clear the coyotes are more brazen than they were just two years ago.

Until then, Maggi McClure, who raises up to 100 sheep with two friends on Maury Island, said she had never heard of a coyote attack on Vashon, but last year, they began attacking her sheep. To date, they  have attacked 13 of her flock, killing nine, including two last month, despite McClure having a burro and two llamas as guard animals.

“There are more coyotes, and they are becoming more bold,” she said. “I expect to see more of them.”

This summer coyote reports to the nature center have increased, especially from the north end, Perla said. April through August is usually the time with the most coyote encounters, as the animals are raising their pups. Coyotes can be more aggressive during this period she added, as they are protecting their young and hunting to support families.

Indeed, in recent weeks, coyote stories have been circulating the length of the island

On Maury Park Road last month, Sue Nebeker spotted a coyote drinking from a fountain not 10 feet from her front door.

More serious situations include the missing cats at the north end, potentially linked to coyotes. Two dogs at the north end were attacked this summer by coyotes protecting their young, Perla said, but they were not killed.

Near Bank Road at VI Horse Supply, Gary and Shelley Headley lost a dozen turkeys to coyotes. Most were less than a week old, he said, and unable to fly and protect themselves.

He saw a coyote on his property in the early morning, he added, and since then he’s been rising early and taking warning shots out his front and back doors to scare any more coyotes away.

“I’m going to need more bullets,” he added.

Many people have suggested guard dogs as a solution, but McClure says the working dogs would create challenges of their own. The dogs live outside all the time and protect the animals by rushing the fence line and barking when potential threats — including neighborhood dogs and people — go by.

“Not everybody in the neighborhood is going to be thrilled about that,” she  added.

The dogs are loud, she said, and if livestock owners resort to them, she predicts there will be undesirable effects.

“They will have a big impact on the sounds of Vashon at night,” she said. “People will not like it.”

The Coyote Working Group, hoping to help ease some of island’s coyote-related challenges, recently printed educational pamphlets for pet and livestock owners and the general  public. They are available on the nature center website as well as at Pandora’s Box, the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust and Fair Isle.

They provide a range of advice, from how to build coyote-proof fencing to making sure pets are in at night and that food sources, including garbage and compost, are secured. The pamphlets also provide tips on how to scare coyotes away.

“The biggest take away we want people to get is to make coyotes wary,” Smith said.

McClure concurs.

“The more those coyotes can be afraid of people, the better their chances of survival,” she said.

Email coyote sightings  and incidents to info@vashonnaturecenter.org.