Coyote In Manhattan: Police Capture Coyote From Battery Park City In New York After Three-Day Search
Three days after the Inquisitr reported about the sighting of a wild coyote in downtown Manhattan, the wild animal has finally been caught. According to the New York Times, police officers who were trying to capture the Coyote finally succeeded on Saturday morning. Officers found the Coyote near a sidewalk cafe in Manhattan at around 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
According to CS Monitor, shortly after being located, the coyote was subdued by firing a tranquilizer shot at her. The animal was later taken to the Center for Animal Care and Control. The coyote is doing fine and no one was injured during or after the operation.
Our #Coyote is awake & unharmed at the @ASPCA. Great job by @NYPDSpecialops #ESU! @NYPDPaws pic.twitter.com/QlyB9AfF3U
— NYPD 1st Precinct (@NYPD1Pct) April 25, 2015
Questions, however, remain if the caught coyote was the same as the one that was initially spotted on Wednesday. While it is unclear as to how the wild animal managed to get in to the concrete jungle that is New York, Sarah Grimké Aucoin, the director of the Urban Park Rangers, told The New York Times that Coyote sightings could be much more frequent in the coming years.
“They are here, and here to stay,” Sarah said. “They are occupying a niche not held by any other predator, and they perform services like controlling rodent populations.”
According to wildlife biologist Chris Nagy, who is also the head of the Gotham Coyote Project and the research director at the Mianus River Gorge in Bedford, the total number of Coyote’s in New York city is still in the teens. That number, he says, could increase in the future, as the animals adapt to living in urban spaces.
The phenomenon of coyotes appearing in urban areas across the U.S. is increasingly becoming common. In fact, it is estimated that as many as 2,000 coyotes live in downtown Chicago! According to Stan Gehrt, who has been researching on Coyotes for years, the animals are beginning to adapt and live in conditions that were previously thought to be unfavorable for them.
In an interview to the Chicago Tribune, he explained.
“Once they got there, they experienced higher reproduction, more food, and so now they have no reason to leave. People think animals living in that habitat are less fit or sick, and the opposite is actually true.”
Would you be comfortable sharing your urban spaces with Coyotes since they seem to be taking over our cities?
[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]
