Coyote ‘decided he wanted to enroll’ at SC school — and hid behind toilet, photo shows
A coyote “decided he wanted to enroll” at a South Carolina school — and snuck inside, officials say.
The stealthy animal made its way into a restroom Thursday morning at Cane Bay Elementary School, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
That’s where a photo shows the coyote hiding behind a toilet, with its front paws stretched toward a wall holding toilet paper rolls. The moment was captured on camera in Summerville, roughly 30 miles northwest of Charleston.
“We are all for furthering your education but we think you skipped a few grades?!” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.
Deputies said the coyote got into the building during a school drop-off period. They teamed with school staff to rush to find the animal, according to the sheriff’s department.
The coyote was caught “without any incident to our students or faculty members” and taken unharmed to wildlife officials, according to authorities.
“It looks like Wile E. Coyote was captured by our Road Runner Deputies!” the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office wrote in its post. “He was captured quickly, but not before he had himself a HOWLIN’ good time inside of Cane Bay Elementary School.”
Adult coyotes usually weigh about 35 pounds and can live in mountains, forests, swamps and suburban areas. Though coyotes aren’t native to South Carolina, they were introduced in 1970s and are now found in every county across the state, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
“Coyotes first appeared in SC about 30 years ago and continue to expand greatly in numbers,” the wildlife agency wrote on its website. “Coyotes are negatively impacting our official State Animal, the White-tailed deer, by preying heavily on deer fawns.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Coyote ‘decided he wanted to enroll’ at SC school — and hid behind toilet, photo shows."
