Four teenage boys have been cited in connection with the death of a coyote on the Far South Side earlier this month, according to Chicago police and state wildlife officials.
The suspects, ages 16 and 17, are accused of shooting a coyote in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood with a bow and then stomping on it Jan. 11, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Illinois Conservation Police and Chicago police both investigated the killing.
Authorities were called to the 10600 block of South Sacramento Avenue on Jan. 11 for a report of a coyote pup being abused, police said.
The teens each received citations for unlawful hunting without supervision, hunting on land without the landowner’s permission, hunting within 100 yards of a home and abandoning a wildlife carcass on private property without permission, according to the release.
Coyotes are not a protected species in Illinois, but people looking to hunt them need a license to do so, according to the IDNR.
Two days after police and state officials began investigating the death of the coyote, a pair of Chicago police officers were captured on social media pulling a male coyote out of the refrigerator section of an Aldi grocery store in Humboldt Park.
Animal Care and Control reminded residents that the coyote mating season, which runs from January to March, means they will be searching for mates and establishing territories.
Coyotes are generally not a threat to humans, with only one documented attack in Chicago in January 2020, considered an isolated incident.
The teens are scheduled to appear in court Feb. 26, according to the release.