Imagine showing up to work and having what you think is a coyote follow you inside!
That's what happened to a doctor last week in South Carolina and it was all caught on camera.
This is the moment Dr. Steve Poletti says a coyote followed him inside the Southeastern Spine Institute in Mount Pleasant.
"I was just walking into work minding my own business," says Dr. Poletti.
He had no idea it was right on his heels. At first glance he thought it was a dog.
"When it brushed by my leg and turned around you could see clearly it was a coyote or a wolf. It kind of bared its teeth and started growling and right then I knew it was a coyote."
Coyote sightings aren't unusual for Mount Pleasant. The town has a coyote management plan. What's odd is the fact that it followed Dr. Poletti inside.
"That's not something that happens all the time," says wildlife control specialist Nathan Agee. Coyotes are difficult to trap and he gets calls about sightings weekly.
"Because of the angle of the camera it's kind of hard to tell because it does have a slender body like a coyote would have, it seemed kind off-color creme color than grey which is typical for coyote. Kind of hard to tell it had the ears and the body style."
Poletti says, "I kind of put my hands up and jingled my keys and the coyote took a step back and basically I came back here and pushed the exit button and took a run for it."
He says the animal followed him until it got distracted by a squirrel and then circled the building for 10 minutes.
"First concern I had being a surgeon my thought was if the coyote bites me I would rather have him bite me in the leg. Maybe it was just looking for food, and in the case it was a dog, it was just a lost dog and it was just trying to find a place to get away. If a coyote can follow me into a building it makes you worry about what's next."