KENNEWICK -- Buddy is the top cat in his house, and arguably the toughest feline in the Tri-Cities.
The muscular 17-pound bobtail cat, which belongs to William and Shannon Secolo, fought off coyotes inside its Kennewick home early one morning last week.
And while Buddy emerged without a scratch from the scrap, his vanquished foes left behind a trail of dung and fur as they fled into the frigid night.
"I think of Buddy as a little hero," William Secolo said Saturday. "Those coyotes were twice his size."
Buddy's, and the Secolo's, close encounter with coyotes occurred early Thursday after the predators entered the Canyon Lakes home through a door from the garage that had been pried open earlier by the couple's other cat, Frank.
William Secolo, who owns Mr. Color Carpet Cleaning & Dyeing, opened his garage door Wednesday night while working on equipment and inadvertently left it slightly open when he went inside for the night.
But he said he didn't firmly shut the door from the garage to the home's interior, and fell asleep on his couch around 9 p.m. Sometime after that, Frank worked the door open and slipped outside, a trick he's done before.
Around 1 a.m., Secolo awoke.
"I heard this blood-curdling scream," he said.
He yelled, then heard the sound of "claws running across tiles."
Secolo got up, hustled across the foyer and stepped in one of a handful of piles of coyote feces. The door to the garage was wide open.
"There were fur balls everywhere," Secolo said. "Those coyotes didn't stand a chance."
He never saw the coyotes, but believes more than one was involved because of the amount of dung and hair left behind.
When the couple turned on a light, they found Buddy sitting in the dining room.
"We checked him all over for bite marks and didn't find any," William Secolo said of his orange tabby. "He didn't even have a scratch. But he had coyote fur in his claws."
Shannon searched the home for Frank, also an orange tabby. She began to cry, fearing he'd been killed.
She opened a sliding glass door to the outside and saw Frank looking at her.
"He was outside somewhere when the coyotes came into the house. They probably smelled our cats and came in looking for them," Secolo said. "These were pretty brazen coyotes."
Ironically, the couple acquired Frank and Buddy nearly two years ago, after their 14-year-old feline, Fred, was killed by coyotes.
The resourceful predators are not an uncommon sight in the area. Secolo said he got up in the middle of the night several years ago and spotted nearly a dozen walking down his street.
Wildlife experts warn pet owners to keep cats and dogs inside at night to prevent unwanted encounters with coyotes. Snow and frigid temperatures in the Mid-Columbia the past week also may be prompting coyotes to become more bold in looking for food.
Buddy and Frank are indoor cats, so they aren't allowed to venture outside for long. Buddy also is playful, intelligent and strong, Secolo said.
Since his standoff, he's also been spoiled by his owners.
"He's been getting showered a bit with attention," he said.
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http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2008/12/21/423047_cat-dukes-it-out-with-coyotes.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
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