Animal Control Looking For Coyotes That Surrounded Woman, Dogs
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Animal Care and Control is trying to track down three coyotes that surrounded a woman and her two dogs in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.
As CBS 2's Kris Habermehl reports, coyotes are a way of life in and around Chicago, with a natural habitat in the suburbs that sometimes allows them to wander in the city.
On Tuesday, three coyotes apparently found their way into Lincoln Park ended up surrounding Kate Dodge, as she walked her 20- and 50-pound leashed dogs, Gordy and Madara, before daybreak at Clark Street and Armitage Avenue.
"They were maybe 50 feet from me, so we stopped," she said.
Instead of moving on, Dodge said, the coyotes approached.
"Two stopped 20 feet away and kind of just branched out a little bit around me," Dodge said. "The third one ran right in, and it was within a foot of us."
Terrified after one of the coyotes started staring aggressively, Dodge said she started screaming in hopes of scaring the animal away.
"He was darting at the one smaller dog here (Gordy, a Labradoodle) and I raised a huge commotion."
Dodge was able to get across Clark Street to her apartment, and leave the coyotes behind.
On Wednesday morning, Animal Care and Control agents will be out in Lincoln Park. If they see coyotes, they will trap them and relocate them, and do so humanely.
Habermehl says if you see a coyote, call 311 to get Animal Care and Control to the scene. Although a coyote sighting may seem like an emergency, do not call 911.
