Police captured coyote who led them on a chase through downtown New York City on Saturday . Cops began following the wild animal after it was spotted scurrying through Battery Park City at 6am , The New York Post reported . Officers trailed it on foot and in patrol cars as it ran across roads and dipped between cars . For two hours it evaded capture , with one witness describing hows cops were chasing it 'like a suspect ' . They then managed to corner it at Merchants River House on South End Avenue and shot it with a tranquilizer dart , the Post reported . It was then put in a cage and taken away into the care of the ASPCA . It is not known whether it was the same coyote that was spotted in Manhattan 's riverside park on Wednesday . At least four coyotes have been spotted around Manhattan so far this year , and one was seen clambering around on the roof of a Queens bar before disappearing , says Sarah Aucoin , the director of the city 's Urban Park Rangers program . Three of the animals were captured in Manhattan and released in Bronx parks with established coyote populations , she said . Cops began following the wild animal after it was spotted scurrying through Battery Park City . For two hours it evaded capture , with one witness describing hows cops were chasing it 'like a suspect ' Officers trailed it on foot and in patrol cars as it ran across roads and dipped between cars . Police chased after the fourth on Wednesday in Manhattan 's Riverside Park , even using a helicopter before until the animal secreted itself in deep brush near Grant 's Tomb . There 's no firm count of coyotes or sightings in the nation 's biggest city , but the population is probably at least in the teens , says wildlife biologist Chris Nagy , a co-founder of a study group called the Gotham Coyote Project and the research director at the Mianus River Gorge in Bedford , New York . With some coyotes ensconced and breeding in the Bronx , others are likely heading into Manhattan this spring to seek their own turf , said coyote project co-founder Mark Weckel , a conservation biologist at the American Museum of Natural History . Coyotes were once creatures of Midwestern plains and southwestern deserts . But they have dramatically expanded their range in the last two centuries , partly because of declines in their predators , such as wolves and cougars , experts say . Although coyotes have been hunted for sport and killed as threats to livestock , they 're now found from coast to coast . There are an estimated 30,000 in New York state , where they were first noted in the 1930s , the state Department of Environmental Conservation says . The wild animal crossed roads and avoided cars as it ran freely on Saturday morning . A police car with its sirens on is seen trying to chase down the coyote . Everytime they got close , the animal ran away . Then they managed to corner it at Merchants River House on South End Avenue and shot it with a tranquilizer dart . It was then put in a cage and taken away into the care of the ASPCA ( right )
Animal gave police a run-around in Battery Park City on the 1930s . Officers trailed the canine in patrol cars and on foot through the streets . It evaded capture for two hours while dipping in and out of traffic . Cops eventually cornered the coyote and shot it with a tranquilizer dart .