Here's a first: Coyote bites man, child in Chicago

CHICAGO – Two people were bitten by a coyote Wednesday, the first coyote attack on humans in the state in at least a decade, authorities said.

A 6-year-old boy was bitten multiple times around 4 p.m. Wednesday on the city's North Side at Lincoln Park, said Kelley Gandurski, executive director of Chicago Animal Care and Control, at a news conference Thursday.

The boy, who police initially reported was 5 years old, was walking with a woman outside the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum when the coyote bit him around the head several times before he and the woman hid on a bus, Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt told the Associated Press.

"The coyote was off to the side of the path in the tall grassy area, and it appeared that the child came head-to-head with coyote," Gandurski said. "The caretaker immediately began taking all defensive measures to get the coyote off the child. ... The caretaker said she was kicking the coyote and yelling and screaming."

The boy was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in stable condition, police said.

"He's in good spirits. He's still in the hospital, and he's recovering well," Gandurski said.

Just a few hours after the first attack, a 32-year-old man walked into Northwestern Hospital and said he had been walking on the sidewalk when a coyote bit him from behind. He was in stable condition. Authorities have not been able to contact the second victim or to confirm that the animal was a coyote, Gandurski said.

A coyote also was spotted Thursday afternoon in Oz Park, causing two nearby schools to temporarily lock down as authorities tried to locate the animal, according to Chicago Public Schools press secretary James Gherardi. By Thursday afternoon, the lockdown had lifted, Gherardi said.

The attacks come after several people reported seeing coyotes across the city. Earlier this week, a coyote snatched a toy poodle and ran down the street with it but dropped the purebred when owners threw shoes at it, according to CBS2.

On Tuesday, firefighters and police rescued a coyote that had fallen into Lake Michigan near downtown's Monroe Harbor. Authorities planned to take the animal to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, according to Chicago Animal Care and Control. Later that day, Chicagoans spotted a coyote roaming through downtown.

About 2,000 coyotes inhabit the Chicagoland area, according to the Urban Coyote Research Project, founded two decades ago to study coyotes in Chicago metropolitan areas.

Coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare considering the range and abundance of coyotes, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Local officials offered various estimates Thursday about whether a coyote attack on a human had ever occurred in the state.

"Any attack is very, very rare. It hasn't happened in probably more than 10 years on a person," Gandurski said.

Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County and founding member of the Urban Coyote Research Project, put the estimate at an even longer period.

"We’ve never been able to document a case of a coyote attacking a human in the state of Illinois, going back 100 years," Anchor said.

A study published in 2007 found 187 reliable reports of attacks on humans, most of which (157) occurred in California, Arizona and Nevada, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Many of the incidents occurred where people were feeding coyotes intentionally, which caused the animals to lose their fear of humans.

"If there's one message that we can get across to the public, under no circumstances should you feed coyotes," Anchor said.

Coyotes prey on small rodents and are protected under Illinois law. The animals reintroduced themselves into the Chicagoland ecosystem in the 70s and 80s and have taken over as the primary predator in the area, Anchor said.

Despite the "odd circumstances" of these attacks, the city has not seen a notable uptick in the coyote population at this time, Gandurski said.

While previous reports of coyote attacks on humans in other states incorrectly identified a dog as a coyote, the incidents in Chicago were very likely coyotes, Gandurski said.

A few years ago, coyotes gained citywide attention in Chicago when one animal wandered into Union Station.

Officials encouraged residents to secure their garbage cans and monitor small pets. The Urban Coyote Institute recommends that people not feed coyotes or run away from one when spotted; instead, shout or throw something in its direction.

CACC is asking residents to call 311 if they see a coyote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chicago coyote bites child, man in 'extremely rare' attack