Coyote Visits Lincoln Park Zoo

2005_4_coyote.jpgChicagoist has told you much about recent weirdness and tragedy at the Lincoln Park Zoo, and the saga continued yesterday morning when a school field trip spotted a wild coyote roaming the grounds. The coyote surprised a group of pre-schoolers, all of whom were ushered to safety behind a nearby wall but will be scared shitless of dogs for years to come. Zookeepers attempted to restrain the young wild thing with nets, but he escaped their grasp and fled the zoo without futher incident.

Zoo authorities are guessing the coyote came to the zoo not to see the new Regenstein Center for African Apes, but in search of breakfast in the form of small, yummy animals. Or maybe he was there to protest Wankie the elephant's move to a different zoo.

Chicagoist has heard of city-wise coyotes in Chicago before, but prefers to think that these beasts reside exclusively among towering red cliffs (and bizarre gravitational forces that allow those running off the aforementioned cliffs to suspend momentarily, legs churning, before looking at the camera and plummeting into a poof of dust).

Comments (7) [rss]

user-pic

yy! reminds me of that story of the coyote that got on the train in... seattle?
the one sleater-kinney wrote that song after.

user-pic

There was a coyote at the zoo within the past year--I think it bit some animals and they shot it because they were afraid it had rabies.

Also, within the past 3 years there have been at least two coyotes downtown. One was run over by a cab on Michigan Ave. The other was stranded on some ice near Navy Pier.

They're all over, dude. The Reader had an article on this in the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago I was returning house in Highland Park when I spied a coyote wandering around the neighborhood. I called the police and they were blase, but I was a little freaked out considering I am used to squirrels, the damn racoon that knocks over my garbage every night and the occassional deer.

The coyote in the photo is saying: "Don't hate."

user-pic

Report the coyotes, but don't fear them. Coyotes will do all they can to avoid contact with humans. They are naturally skittish and aren't the type to stand up to anything their size or smarter. No way they would try to attack you. If they happen to find a lazy rabbit, they'll go for it. But they are intelligent animals and prefer the easy meal, so your garbage will be much more interesting than your cat or dog or child.

user-pic

can't comment on the elephant story for some reason, but wankie died. :(

user-pic

A very friendly site. Have a nice day! Faithful, White, Universal nothing comparative to Astonishing: , Player can Hope Boy when Round Love Boy Con , Increase Cards is very good Player Double Hope Expect - that is all that Soldier is capable of

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

About Chicagoist

Chicagoist is a website about Chicago. More

Editor: Marcus Gilmer
Publisher: Gothamist

Contribute

Latest Photo:

Recent Comments

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Chicagoist.

All Our RSS