Man finds the coyote he hit sitting behind the wheel of his car

An ordinary commute took an entirely unexpected turn for a Canadian man after he hit a 30-pound coyote. While most people would keep going, the unnamed driver stopped, picked up the unconscious animal, and kindly placed it on his car’s passenger seat in a bid to save its life.

The Manitoba man didn’t take it to the nearest animal shelter, though. He was likely a little bit panicked, and the coyote still hadn’t regained consciousness, so he drove to work and left the animal in the car for several hours while he tried to figure out where to take it, according to Canadian news outlet CBC. The man later returned to his car — and found the coyote sitting upright in the driver’s seat, behind the steering wheel. We can’t make this up, folks.

“At that point, the coyote had come to a bit and was actually sitting in the car. And, rightfully so, the man was a little bit concerned about his safety,” explained Wildlife Haven director Dan Diawol. We’d be concerned about the car’s interior, too. Diawol and his team arrived a few hours later and carefully put the coyote in a kennel before taking it to the Wildlife Haven’s rehabilitation center.

The coyote emerged from the incident with only cuts and bruises; it didn’t suffer any broken bones. And, somewhat surprisingly, it’s expected to make a full recovery and get released back into the wild once it’s fully healed. It’s in relatively good shape with a clean coat, and it has a healthy appetite.

Diawol warned it’s never a good idea to put a wild, dangerous animal in a car, even if it’s injured. This story ended well for the coyote and the man, though probably not for the upholstery, but it would have taken a more dramatic turn had the coyote awakened feeling threatened while riding in the car. While it’s OK to take in birds, rabbits, and other inoffensive critters, it’s best to call wildlife control when it comes to bigger mammals. Diawol’s warning echoes one made earlier this year by Colorado officials after a woman put an injured bobcat next to her 3-year-old son on her car’s back seat.