Frightened and injured, the coyote headed for the closest dark and sheltered place it could find this morning — beneath Yellow Cab No. 612 in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.
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Exactly how the coyote, yellow eyes flashing and its winter coat lush, got to South Michigan Avenue is a matter of conjecture, but its appearance there is not a complete surprise.
Coyotes have been back in the city for more than a decade, though police and animal control officials could not recall one appearing so close to the Loop.
About 9:45 a.m. today, the coyote was bolting through Michigan Avenue and Adams Street.
“It got clipped by a minivan in the intersection, then just ran under the taxi,” said Kathryn Farris, who was walking through the intersection. “Everybody stopped, traffic was backed up, it was chaos.”
Qamar Ahmed was behind the wheel of the taxi, stopped at the light, when the animal — about the size of a springer spaniel — appeared in front of him, but then didn’t show up in the rearview mirror.
“Somebody ran up and said he was under my cab,” Ahmed said. “I don’t want to kill this animal, so I got out.”
Six police officers eventually surrounded the cab and — armed with three wildlife nooses — managed to wrest the snapping, snarling coyote from its hiding place. After dragging it to a squadrol, they bound its feet with yellow police tape and drove it to the city’s animal shelter on the West Side.
Veterinarians with the city’s Department of Animal Care and Control planned to examine the coyote and determine whether it will go to a wildlife rehabilitator or be euthanized, said Dr. Gene Mueller, the department’s executive director.
Coyotes, as willing to scavenge a meal as they are to hunt down a vole or rabbit, have adapted readily to city and suburban life.
Several years ago, coyotes took up residence in Lincoln Park. Earlier this year, a coyote carcass was found at Montrose Avenue Beach and sent to the Field Museum of Natural History, museum officials said.
Officials said their best guess was that the coyote found its way to Michigan Avenue on Thursday morning by following the Illinois Central railroad tracks that run beneath the Art Institute.