SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) — A South Carolina woman recently had a surprise guest in her kitchen.
“One of my dogs came through here, and he started barking and looking all over, like there was a mouse or something,” Sandie Ferguson said as she walked through her kitchen.
Ferguson is a dog-lover. She has two pups of her own and decorates her home with dog-themed art. But the kind of “dog” she got a surprise visit from last weekend was a coyote. She told WSPA he came through a doggie door and pinned himself in the corner of her breakfast room.
“When I first saw him, I thought ‘It’s a coyote. Then I thought, ‘No, it has to be a dog.’ But he didn’t move, he didn’t bark, he didn’t growl or whimper,” she said.
Ferguson said that’s when she called 911. She said the coyote stayed in the corner until police arrived.
“He didn’t move. I think he was so afraid, he stayed just like a statue for like an hour and ten minutes,” Ferguson said.
When police got there, she said they used dog toys and were able to get the coyote back out the same doggie door he came in.
FULL POLICE BODY CAM FOOTAGE:
“So, now, we close the doggie door at night, and I have to watch and turn all the lights on, because we have one little dog,” she said.
Before the incident, Ferguson said she’d heard coyotes, but had never seen one.
“You never expect a wild animal to come in the house. I never expected a coyote to be in my yard,” Ferguson said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I think he’d come in the house.”
Wildlife experts said this is the first incident like this that they’ve ever seen in the region.
Ferguson is just glad no one was hurt.
Wildlife experts say if you ever encounter a wild animal, do not approach it. Instead, get away as quickly as possible.
And, if it’s like this case where it’s inside your home, make sure to give it an escape route and let it go out on its own. Then, you should secure the point of entry, so it doesn’t happen again.