A cellphone video showing a Chicago police officer pulling a coyote from its hiding spot in a refrigerated section of an Aldi supermarket has gone viral.
The incident took place around 9:45 a.m. Monday inside the store at 800 North Kedzie in Humboldt Park, WLS-TV reported.
‘It picked an odd location. They do this sometimes. They make a mistake. They’re trying to avoid us. They’re trying to hide from us.’
A witness told the station she saw the animal roaming the parking lot minutes earlier, and the coyote ended up inside the store’s produce section. WLS said the critter had been hiding in a cooler beneath a selection of fine cheeses.
You can view the viral clip here.
The short video shows an officer pulling the coyote by the tail out of the refrigerated section — and as he does so, one individual standing back urges others, “Hey, watch out, guys! Watch out! Watch out! Watch out!”
With that, the coyote is in the supermarket aisle, the officer lets go of the animal, and it promptly scampers back behind another section of produce.
But WLS said police and Animal Care and Control removed the coyote safely and that there were no reported injuries to the coyote, witnesses, police, or animal control officials.
“It picked an odd location. They do this sometimes. They make a mistake. They’re trying to avoid us. They’re trying to hide from us,” Stan Gehrt with the Cook County Coyote Project told the station. “Probably trying to find a new area to hide, ended up inside the store, and this has happened in the past.”
Officials told WLS the coyote will be transferred to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, which will confirm that the animal is OK before possibly releasing it back into the wild.
This time of year — January through March — is mating season for coyotes, and as a result they’re especially active, officials told the station, adding that sightings also tend to pick up.
“Some of these animals — the ones especially that make a mistake and … find themselves [in] a building — often are what we call transient animals, so these are animals that actually don’t have a mate yet,” Gehrt added to WLS.
Officials also told the station that while coyotes generally aren’t threats to humans, it’s wise to not to leave food on porches and patios.
You can view a video report here about the coyote capture.
(H/T: Not the Bee)
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Chicago police, Animal control, Viral video, Coyote, Aldi supermarket, Animal captured, Crime
