CHICAGO _ Chicago Animal Care and Control officials Sunday announced they used DNA testing to determine the coyote they caught was the same animal that bit a 6-year-old boy near Lincoln Park earlier this month.
With help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, local officials tested the animal and said it was the same one that on Jan. 8 attacked the child near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, biting the child on his head. The boy had been walking along a path in a park area near the museum when he came upon the coyote on a grassy hill, officials said. The boy may have startled the animal, which responded by biting the child. His nanny and several bystanders came to the boy's aid.
A second man was bitten on his rear later that night as he walked in the Gold Coast, causing animal control and Chicago police to launch an aggressive search for a coyote that had been limping, although it didn't seem likely the same coyote bit both people because the one that bit the child had been injured.
When a coyote was captured Jan. 9 in the 1700 block of North Dayton Street, authorities felt confident it was the animal that had attacked the boy, because that coyote also was limping.
The results of the testing that was promised at the time of the coyote's capture was released Sunday, and authorities now say the animal was limping because it had been shot with a BB gun, according to a statement from city spokesman Patrick Mullane.
"Through evaluation, it was determined that the animal had been shot in the chest with a BB gun, which could have caused the limp in its movements as well as the aggressive behavior. The animal will remain at a local wildlife rehabilitation center," Mullane said in the statement.
Mullane also said the animal did not have rabies, testing confirmed.
Although Mayor Lori Lightfoot had to weigh in on the coyote attacks, saying, "Never did I think I'd be talking about alligators in one breath and coyote in the next," officials said there are hundreds of coyotes in the Chicago area and it is not common for them to become aggressive and attack humans.
"Coyotes are common throughout the Chicagoland area and protected under the Illinois Wildlife Code. Residents should always take caution if they encounter a coyote and notify CACC by calling 311. It remains extremely rare for a coyote to approach or bite a person."
