NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) — People in Queens did a double take on Monday, when an apparent coyote was spotted roaming along the roof of a bar.
A sign on the door of the LIC Bar in Long Island City reads, “Only service dogs on a leash are allowed anywhere on these premises.” So maybe the animal wasn’t breaking any rules, because the entire neighborhood is convinced that it isn’t a dog at all.
“There was a coyote just hanging on the roof,” Birk O’Halloran told CBS2’s Weijia Jiang, “I grew up in Colorado and I’ve seen a lot. People say, ‘Oh that’s a dog.’ No, that’s a coyote. They look like a German shepherd, but grayer and more pointy.”
Cell phone video from O’Halloran’s office above the bar is something you have to see to believe.
“I think it’s a first for most of us. There’s not too many coyotes here in New York, but anything’s possible,” Laura Supper said.
Many people spotted the animal roaming on the bar’s roof on Monday, before it ran into a broken window of an abandoned building next door as cops tried to catch it.
“It seemed scared. It didn’t seem like it wanted to be found,” David Weitzenhoffer said.
Queens Residents Spot Apparent Coyote On Roof Of Long Island City Bar
An animal control officer searched the scene, but the only coyote he could find was jazz musician Coyote Anderson. Yes, that is his real name.
“My name is Coyote Anderson,” Anderson said. “Believe it or not, my parents named me Coyote Anderson Moore.”
Of all the nights that Anderson’s jazz quartet could have a gig, it was on the night that LIC Bar received its unexpected visitor.
“We couldn’t be blessed with a better omen,” Anderson said.
He said he was dedicating a song or two to the creature at the center of the canine mystery.
Animal Control officers say they can’t be sure what the animal is unless they look at it up close, but first they have to find it.
