Say What Now? Wild Coyote Yanked From Refrigerated Section of Aldi Supermarket in Chicago [Video]

The Aldi coyote gave Wile E. Coyote a run for his money Monday morning.

A video posted to social media Monday morning caught the moment a coyote was pulled out from a grocery store refrigerator on the West Side.

The Aldi’s on Kedzie in Humboldt Park

I was prepared to see him pull out a opossum or a raccoon. Did NOT expect that pic.twitter.com/4CbaWkjhwy

— Eddie (@EddieBarstool) January 13, 2025

It all went down at the Aldi store at 800 N. Kedzie Ave. in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Police were called to the store around 9:45 a.m.

The wild, and mayhap wily, coyote had run into the supermarket and made a mad dash to the produce section. Chicago Police officers were first to the scene, where they cornered the animal hiding behind the items on a refrigerated shelf.

Customers gasped as officers made several attempts to yank the coyote out of the shelf, finally pulling the animal out by its tail.

The animal then ran back to the fridge. Patrons were left stunned by it all.

Chicago Animal Care and Control was also notified with multiple calls. It took time for their officers to arrive.

Budget cuts and staff shortages within Animal Care and Control, an issue on which CBS News Chicago has reported, have left the agency leaning heavily on the CPD.

Responding animal control officers did eventually take the coyote into custody.

Liza Lehrer saw the video on social media, and called its climactic moment “quite a surprise.” But since Lehrer is the assistant director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo, she said it was not a total surprise.

“The colder temperatures — we don’t see human activity really as much, you know, out in our parks and in our natural areas,” Lehrer said, “and so that’s kind of the time where a lot of different wildlife might be a little bit more active—during the daytime, unexpectedly.”

A spokesperson for Chicago Animal Care and Control said the coyote captured Monday to be transferred to Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation. Though the animal appeared uninjured, Flint Creek will perform an assessment before releasing it back into the wild if appropriate.

No injuries to people were reported during the chain of events Monday.

via: CBS News

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