CHICAGO _ A coyote was caught on Chicago's North Side Thursday evening, but authorities said it was not yet known whether it's the same animal that attacked a 5-year-old boy the day before about two miles away.
The coyote, which appeared injured, was spotted around 10 p.m. in the 1700 block of North Dayton Street in the Lincoln Park area, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control. Workers from the agency caught up with the animal about a block away and "safely" shot it with a tranquilizer dart.
The coyote was taken to the agency's facilities for "further evaluation," it said in a tweet.
The agency would not say whether it suspected the coyote was the same one that attacked the boy outside the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Wednesday afternoon, biting him on the head.
But Ald. Brian Hopkins, whose 2nd Ward includes the museum, tweeted that "preliminary indications strongly suggest this is the animal involved ... waiting for DNA test results to confirm."
The alderman said the coyote may also be the same animal that bit a man in the buttocks later Wednesday in Streeterville. Neither the boy nor the man _ who showed up at a hospital with what he said was a coyote bite _ suffered life-threatening injuries.
Two DePaul University track team members were running nearby when the coyote attacked the boy and said they helped kick the animal away.
The attack on the boy is believed to be the first by a coyote on a human in the Chicago area in at least a decade, said Kelley Gandurski, executive director of Chicago Animal Care and Control.
