Search Underway Following Recent Coyote Attack In Lincoln Park
CHICAGO (CBS)-- A search is underway in Lincoln Park following a new coyote sighting Thursday morning.
Chicago Care and Control officials addressed the media on Thursday to address one coyote attack on a boy in Lincoln Park the night before, and another reported coyote attack on a man in Streeterville.
Police officers as well as Animal Care and Control have patrolling the area for the animal. Officials said they are working to remove the animal from the area.
A man told Chicago Police a coyote bit him Wednesday night in the 700 block of North Fairbanks Court in Streeterville near Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The 32-year-old man is being treated at that hospital.
He told police he was walking on the sidewalk when a coyote came from behind and bit him in the butt.
The man is expected to be okay.
This incident happened just hours after a child was attacked by a coyote Wednesday near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum at Fullerton and Cannon drives.
Wednesday afternoon around 4 p.m., the child was attacked near the Lincoln Park museum. Police said the coyote bit the 6-year-old multiple times, including on his head.
The boy was with his nanny and was running up a hill with his caretaker right behind him, according to Ald. Michele Smith (43rd). The coyote was in a grassy area over the hill and the boy may have accidentally gotten too close. Officials said the boy and his nanny took shelter on a CTA bus, while awaiting an amublance.
Two of DePaul University track athletes -- Ryan Taylor, a sophomore from southwest suburban Mokena and Dominic Bruce, a sophomore from Leonard, Michigan -- came to the rescue, an official from the university said.
The child's condition was stabilized in the Lurie Children's Hospital. He was in good condition as of Thursday afternoon, Ald. Smith said.
About half an hour before the attack on the boy, Twitter user Xime Mendez sent CBS 2's Charlie De Mar a video of a limping coyote walking down the sidewalk in front of 438 W. Belden Ave., just blocks from the Nature Museum.
A coyote was also spotted near the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Streeterville Thursday morning, and then in Oz Park, near Lincoln and Webster avenues and Larrabee Street. Due to this coyote's limp, it could be the same one spotted in other videos.
But Smith's office said it very likely that the limping coyote is not the one that bit the boy, based upon witness statements.
Lincoln Park High School students and families were alerted of the incidents. School officials announced students will stay in their third period classes to avoid transitioning between buildings.
Officials recommends "hazing" a coyote, which can be making a loud noise or waving around to deter the animal. Officials also warned residents to avoid open garbage cans and monitor small dogs.
Officials said there is no evidence that there is a larger coyote population in the city, but there is an increase in sightings.
