Coyotes on the Loose... in New York

W460

They have been spotted frequenting the roof of a bar, roaming a park and "chilling" right outside a house.

Smaller than wolves and members of the dog family, at least five Coyotes have been reported across New York since the start of the year, mobilizing police and attracting bemused press attention.

More commonly associated with the prairies and deserts of America's Mid and Southwest, the eastern coyote looks like a German shepherd dog, but is half the weight and up to 1.5 meters (five-feet) long.

Of three sightings since March, the most striking was in Battery Park City, a gleaming residential complex in Lower Manhattan, close to the World Trade Center, last Saturday.

After an hour-long hunt, police finally cornered the animal near a cafe and sedated it with a dart.

"The coyote is currently lodged at the Center for Animal Care and Control," the New York police department told AFP.

On Monday, Queens resident Joe Petito snapped photographs of a coyote resting behind a bush right outside his front door.

"Coyote chilling in front of my house," he posted on Twitter.

Last month another coyote was spotted on the roof of a bar in Long Island City, elsewhere in Queens, but managed to evade capture.

New York's department of parks says coyotes are common throughout the state, urban areas included.

"There is no need to panic if you see a coyote. Most coyotes are not dangerous to people," said Sam Biederman, assistant commissioner for communications at the department.

Expert Don Bogan last year wrote about the rise of the coyote in suburban New York in "Conservationist," a New York State-focused magazine.

"Coyotes even inhabit the Bronx, the only New York City borough attached to upstate and the mainland," he wrote. "On occasion, these stealthy explorers permeate other island boroughs."

In 2011, he said someone photographed a coyote in Queens and in 2013, a black-and-white photograph showed a solitary coyote as far east as Bridgehampton on Long Island.

Comments 1
Default-user-icon Beep Prepared (Guest) 29 April 2015, 18:28

They were looking for Disappearialis Quickius