CHICAGO -- Employees and customers of a downtown Chicago Quiznos sandwich shop were stunned Tuesday when a coyote walked through an open door and made himself at home in the soda cooler.
The front door of the eatery had been propped open.
A large crowd of media and passersby snapped pictures of the wild spectacle from the window outside.
Animal Control was called to the scene and took the coyote away. Officials said the coyote's leg was slightly injured, and that's why he found the cooler so comforting.
"It tried to jump over the cooler," said one employee, who, like the rest of the Quiznos employees, ran out when the coyote walked in.
But he didn't make it, so he just settled inside it.
"It wasn't aggressive at all," restaurant manager Bina Patel told the Chicago Tribune. "It was just looking around."
Employees and customers calmly cleared out of the restaurant, though some took the time to finish their sandwiches and snap some cell-phone photos.
"This one definitely I will definitely remember forever. A coyote in downtown Chicago," Quiznos employee Rick Torres said.
The city captures 10 to 15 coyotes every year, especially in the spring when they are most active, said Anne Kent, director of Chicago Animal Care and Control. Veterinarians will examine the coyote and, if he is not injured, release him into the wild.
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