We Are All Exurban Now

Helicopters are flying overhead this morning searching for a coyote on the loose in Central Park:

An “adventurous” coyote that has roamed Central Park for four days shook off pursuers with dart guns and eluded capture last night.

Park officers and cops cornered the coyote — only the second spotted in the park in seven years — in the 4-acre Hallett Nature Center about 5 p.m. But it leaped over a fence and vanished.

“The wily coyote escaped,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

As NYPD aviation units flew overhead, park enforcement control officers hunted the tawny creature, which left a pile of feathers from its last meal in the preserve.

Benepe believes the coyote, which weighs about 60 pounds and resembles a lean German shepherd, came from Westchester County or the Bronx, either swimming across the Spuyten Duyvil Creek or crossing a bridge.

“It’s very unusual to have them in Manhattan. They have to be particularly adventurous,” he said.

Central Park hasn’t seen a coyote since April 1, 1999, when one was nabbed near The Pierre hotel on Fifth Ave.