Coyote found in Beacon Hill is captured and released

Animal’s arrest took over an hour

Coyotes seem to be making themselves at home practically everywhere nowadays, even among narrow cobblestone streets, red-brick sidewalks, and elegant rowhouses.

A coyote was captured last week in beacon Hill after being trapped behind a tall fence beside a brownstone for more than an hour, officials said.

The roving animal was spotted around 11:30 a.m. on Anderson street by a mailman who immediately called boston Animal Care and Control, said lawrance o’Connor, 58, who works across the street at sterling property Management and watched the event unfold.

About 20 people gathered in front of the locked fence as the animal control officer used a pole leash to capture the animal, o’Connor said.

“The animal control guy had no fear,” he said. “He went in there without anything.”

The coyote “looked scared” as it tried to jump over the fence and run away, o’Connor said. When it was backed into a corner, it started to “play possum,” he said, forcing the animal control officer to drag the animal across the sidewalk before putting it into a vehicle.

The coyote was healthy and released in a safe area, according to a spokesperson for the city’s parks and Recreation Department. the spokesperson would not specify the location and did not have any information on how the animal got behind the fence.

The animal control officer was not available for comment thursday.

Sam Sharma, 25, works at beacon Hill Market on Anderson street, one door down from where the coyote was trapped. He wasn’t at work at the time, but his co-worker described what happened, he said.

Catching the coyote was a “struggle” that lasted more than an hour. the coyote ran around the small side yard of the brownstone before “acting dead,” he said.

“They used a stick and grabbed it by its neck,” sharma said. “It wasn’t moving. It was laying as if it were dead and they had to drag it.”

Sharma said having a coyote in the area is “scary.”

“A lot of people walk on these streets,” sharma said as customers walked in and out of the store buying newspapers or ice cream.

Dave Wattles, a state Division of fisheries and Wildlife biologist, said it’s not at all surprising that a coyote turned up in such a densely populated area.

“They’re all over boston,” Wattles said. “there are coyotes that were born and raised, and lived their entire lives in the city. they’re more comfortable around people, they’re more comfortable around homes.”

Coyotes have been seen in Roxbury, Jamaica plain, and other neighborhoods, he said.

And while their presence may be unnerving, they are serving a valuable civic purpose, Wattles said. A single coyote can eat 1,000 rats in a year.

“They eat large and small rodents,” Wattles said. “they’ll certainly eat a rat, mice, voles … they’re definitely part of their natural diet, and what they would be hunting for.”

But in a neighborhood like beacon Hill, coyotes are “just as likely getting into the garbage,” Wattles said. If trash is unsecured and available, coyotes “will exploit it” just as rats do.

Wattles said coyotes use cemeteries, golf courses, parks, and abandoned lots to get around.

“That’s how they navigate the city,” he said.

This coyote may have traveled along the Charles River or through boston Common to reach beacon Hill, Wattles said.

On thursday, residents said they were a bit worried about sharing the neighborhood with coyotes, which are known to attack small dogs. Craig smith, 70, who lives in a building overlooking the Common, was walking his small, white dog oskar thursday morning. smith was “a little bit worried” about the coyote, he said, but he knew to keep oskar on a leash and “in close proximity.”

Smith said he has a home in Hudson valley in new York and once came face-to-face with a “huge, deer-eating coyote” in the woods. the animal ran away from him, he said.

“I’ll keep my eye out, and if it gets established, I’ll carry around a stick,” he said with a chuckle, watching his small dog sniff around in the grass.