Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
We Are All Exurban Now
Helicopters are flying overhead this morning searching for a coyote on the loose in Central Park:
An “adventurous” coyote that has roamed Central Park for four days shook off pursuers with dart guns and eluded capture last night.
Park officers and cops cornered the coyote — only the second spotted in the park in seven years — in the 4-acre Hallett Nature Center about 5 p.m. But it leaped over a fence and vanished.
“The wily coyote escaped,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.
As NYPD aviation units flew overhead, park enforcement control officers hunted the tawny creature, which left a pile of feathers from its last meal in the preserve.
Benepe believes the coyote, which weighs about 60 pounds and resembles a lean German shepherd, came from Westchester County or the Bronx, either swimming across the Spuyten Duyvil Creek or crossing a bridge.
“It’s very unusual to have them in Manhattan. They have to be particularly adventurous,” he said.
Central Park hasn’t seen a coyote since April 1, 1999, when one was nabbed near The Pierre hotel on Fifth Ave.