Coyote Bites 5-Year-Old Boy Outside Chicago Museum

A stray coyote bit a five-year-old boy on the head outside in Lincoln Park outside Chicago’s Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Wednesday.

ABC 7 reported that Chicago police said that the boy was walking with a woman in the 2400-block of North Cannon Drive in the northern part of Lincoln Park around 4 p.m. when a wandering coyote attacked.

According to CBS Chicago, the coyote bit the child multiple times before running north.

The woman and the boy reportedly rushed to a bus shelter after he was bitten.

Paramedics came to treat the boy’s head lacerations before sending him to Lurie Children's Hospital to recover where he is now reported to be in stable condition.

The Chicago Animal Care and Control is aiding the investigation stating that two members have responded to the incident.

Meanwhile, a Twitter user named Xime Mendez sent CBS 2 reporter Charles De Mar a video of a coyote limping down the sidewalk blocks away from the museum just before the incident happened.

According to De Mar’s report, the coyote was still on the loose on Wednesday night and police have proceeded to search along the running paths in Lincoln Park.

One officer reportedly said that he planned to ask the nearby Lincoln Park Zoo to assist and capture the coyote.

There have been reports of four or five coyotes spotted outside a school near Cleveland and Division while several coyotes have been spotted on Chicago’s North Side.

Another incident happened on Wednesday morning where an anonymous viewer of ABC7 Eyewitness News sent a video showing a coyote chasing a woman around Old Town Road.

The viewer then honked his horn to prevent the animal from attacking the woman.

The coyote in the video was seen to have a limp similar to another one seen last week.

“While it is extremely rare for a coyote to approach or bite a person, residents should take caution if they encounter a coyote and notify Chicago Animal Care and Control by calling 311,” the agency said in a statement obtained by the New York Post.

While attacks on people are rare, dogs, however, have been targets.

A little more than a week before, a 5-pound toy poodle survived a coyote attack near Burling and Willow Streets in Old Town while a Schnauzer was attacked at Cambridge Avenue and Delaware Place in the Cabrini Rowhouses the night prior.

According to experts, coyotes have gradually adapted to the city life because there is food, like rodents, for them there.

The Humane Society advised that should one see a coyote, running away or turning back should be avoided and instead perform an action called hazing where one must shout or throw something in the coyote’s direction.

If the coyote does not respond to hazing, it means it may have been feed by someone or found trash left out, and in that case, proceed with caution as the animal can get aggressive.

The city said that calls for coyote related incidents have risen to 331 in 2019 from a total number of 268 calls in 2017 and a drop to 146 in 2018, however, the numbers reflect multiple calls received for the same coyote, CBS 2 reported.