Stranded Coyote Safe After Getting Stuck On Ledge Of FL Hotel: Watch

FORT MYERS, FL — After garnering a crowd of onlookers, a coyote was able to get itself down from the second floor ledge of the Luminary Hotel in downtown Fort Myers on Tuesday afternoon, Fort Myers police wrote in a Facebook post. (Watch a video from the scene below.)

Police, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Fort Myers Fire Department responded to the hotel to help the animal.

“I mean, we’ve had bears in trees and stuff like that,” police Lieutenant Dominic Zammit told Fox 4. “But never a coyote on the side of a building.”

Eventually, the coyote jumped back over the barrier and safely left the property just before 1 p.m., police said.

The crowd cheered as the animal left the area, reports said. He escaped the hotel so quickly, running toward Centennial Park and the Caloosahatchee River, that FWC officers were unable to catch him.

Dr. Christina Anaya, an assistant professor of biology and mammalogy at Florida Gulf Coast University, told WINK that the coyote likely spent the night in the Luminary parking lot.

"Then with the morning came a lot of hustle and bustle. And eventually he probably got spooked, and then tried to jump over that ledge, over the pylon, to the ledge, and then realized he couldn't get down, so he lost his courage to go back right away," she said. "But after a couple of hours, as you saw, he finally realized he could jump back over and get out.”

Coyotes are found throughout Florida across all 67 counties in rural, suburban and urban areas, according to the FWC website.

“They are typically shy and elusive but encounters between people and coyotes in Florida are occurring more often,” the agency said.

Watch a video of the coyote below:

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