Officials in Chicago have tested the DNA of a coyote that was caught on the city's North Side to find that it was the same animal that bit a little boy, the Chicago Tribune reports.
It adds that the six-year-old boy was walking in a park near nature museum where he came upon the coyote. Officials tell it that the boy may have startled the coyote, which responded by biting him. NBC Chicago adds that the coyote had previously been shot by a BB gun, which may have made it more aggressive. According to the Tribune, many people nearby then helped the boy, who was hospitalized.
The Chicago police and animal control captured a coyote in the area after chasing it for many blocks and evaluated it with the help of the US Department of Agriculture, the Associated Press adds. That analysis has now confirmed that the captured coyote is the same as the one that bit the boy, the Tribune reports, noting that it also found the animal to be free of rabies.
NBC Chicago reports that the coyote, which has been named Mercy, will neither be euthanized nor returned to the wild, but remain at a wildlife rehabilitation center.