Coyotes in Chicago

I ran across this article this morning on NPR and knew I had to share.  Did you have any idea that 60 wild coyotes were living in Chicago?!

 

In the video above, the coyote is running down State Street (which is where I'm headed in a few minutes to meet up with some old coworkers for lunch and to do some Badger-family Christmas shopping).  For those of you not familiar with State Street, it's downtown Chicago in "the loop" where so much is happening throughout the day.

According to the article, Chicago has over 60 coyotes roaming the streets freely, living in parks in neighborhoods throughout the city limits, eating rats and staying away from humans.  It baffles me that 60 coyotes are living within the city and nobody ever sees them.  It's really amazing actually.  Each of the coyotes have been placed with a collar that helps the county keep track of their whereabouts.  As you can see in the image below, most of them choose to live in green areas, hiding in the parks to refrain from human contact.

These guys are rarely seen, are afraid of dogs (even the tiniest ones) and usually keep well hidden.  But one of the funniest parts of this article is that one time, a coyote stumbled into a Quiznos downtown and climbed up in the refrigerated cooler!

I love his expression here!

When I first started reading I didn't know what to think.  But there is nothing to be afraid of.  These animals are fairly timid and don't pose a threat to the millions of people living in the same area.  It reminds me of Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer.  Have you read it?  If not, go to the library or bookstore and check it out at once! She fights for the freedom of the coyotes while everyone else sees them as a threat to their livestock or other animals and even to themselves.  Ranchers often poison them or shoot them for that reason, even though they have no interest in killing the animals like they think.  

What do you think about this?  I'm pretty in love with the idea.  

* All images via NPR