And the coyote shall lie down with the SoBes ...

Wild animal walks into downtown Chicago sandwich shop, chills in cooler

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April 4: Bina Patel, a Chicago Quizno's owner, talks to MSNBC-TV's Chris Jansing about a coyote that strolled into her sandwich shop.

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updated 2:46 p.m. ET April 4, 2007

CHICAGO - For one day, at least, the roadrunner was safe. It seems the coyote was hankering for another kind of fast food. Employees and customers at a downtown Chicago Quizno's sandwich shop were stunned to see a coyote walk through the propped-open front door Tuesday afternoon and lie down in a cooler stocked with fruit juice and soda.

"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, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Animal control officers took the passive coyote away after about 40 minutes, after a curious crowd had gathered outside.

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"This one definitely I will definitely remember forever. A coyote in downtown Chicago," Quizno's employee Rick Torres told WLS-TV.

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.