Wild Coyote Wanders Into Zoo in Chicago

CHICAGO – Officials captured a wild coyote that wandered into a Chicago zoo, but the animal didn’t set off a panic among visitors, who appeared to ignore it.

The coyote scampered through the Lincoln Park Zoo’s public paths shortly before noon on last Thursday, then leaped into a wart hog enclosure where zookeepers shot it with an anesthesia dart. The animal was later destroyed and tested for diseases.

“The keeper who spotted it said people were all over the walkway where it was trotting,” said Robyn Barbiers, the zoo’s vice president for collections. “Nobody paid any attention at all to the coyote. I suppose they all assumed it was a neighborhood stray. That’s what the keeper thought it was at first, a big stray dog.”

Visitors were shooed out of the north end of the zoo while zookeepers contained the coyote.

Zoo officials and the city’s Animal Control Department said the coyote likely went to the zoo in search of food and living space.