© Chris Walker/Chicago Tribune/TNSHeidi Garbe, left, Associate Research Scientist at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, checks the health of one of two coyote puppies found Tuesday, May 7, 2013 in a northwest suburban forest preserve near Chicago as Andy Burmesch, right, wildlife research technician, records data.
Coyotes usually try to avoid human contact.
Yet animal experts say an increasing number of coyotes are setting up shop in one of most dense urban labyrinths: downtown Chicago.The seemingly incongruous marriage between coyotes and a people-packed habitat has occurred naturally, according to Stan Gehrt, an Ohio State University professor who specializes in coyote research in Cook County, which includes Chicago.
Gehrt said he and his team know of no deliberate efforts to release coyotes into the downtown area.
"They're all homegrown coyotes, all born and bred in Chicago," Gehrt said.
Gehrt, who runs the Urban Coyote Research program,
said the coyote population swelled tenfold during the 1990s. Coyotes are very territorial and only will tolerate so many living in a certain area.
Comment: Tough times for birds lately, as they lose all sense of direction, die due to decades-old DDT pollution, are being trapped in abandoned fishing nets, or fall dead from the sky.