Coyote Captured In Mattapan After Wandering Near School
BOSTON (CBS) - It was fast and furious in Mattapan Thursday with a coyote captured after a wild chase. Kids in a nearby school were kept indoors just in case, and just about everyone was asking, "What's a coyote doing in the city?"
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
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Around 11:45am animal control officers started pursuing the coyote behind the Mildred Avenue Middle School. They caught the animal around the corner on Hosmer St. It was a sight that was completely unusual and a little scary. And in some ways you had to feel bad for the coyote with police cars wheeling up, nets being deployed and police officers with guns drawn.
But this animal was definitely not where it was supposed to be.
Students at the Mildred Ave. Middle School spotted the coyote out the back windows. "It was in back of the school by the cafeteria," says one. Students who were outside doing field studies were quickly brought inside to wait it out. "We immediately went into what's called a "safe mode" with no one allowed outside," says Dr. Deborah Dancy, the school's principal. "We had a number of emergency vehicles here with Animal Control, the Boston Police and the Safety Office from the school department," she adds.
More than an hour after the chase began, after following the coyote from the school, onto the streets and into back yards, Animal Control officers captured the coyote, and the neighborhood breathed a sigh of relief. "Fortunately there was no tragedy that we had to experience because we know this could have been a major, major problem with the diseases that many wild animals carry," says Principal Dancy.
Tonight the coyote is at the Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton where doctors are examining and treating it. No word about what will happen to the animal after that.
