Wildlife rehabbers theorized the animal ducked into the supermarket, then hid among refrigerated items to "hide from people inside the store.”

Customers gasped as officers made several attempts to yank the coyote out of the shelf, finally pulling the animal out by its tail.

A coyote that was pulled out of the refrigerated section of an Aldi in Chicago yesterday will be returned to the wild, officials said. The wild animal was “likely seeking refuge from the hustle and bustle of city life,” slipped into the store via an open door and then hid behind the cheeses and deli meats to avoid the people in the store.

Shoppers and staff at a Chicago Aldi were surprised to find a coyote hiding in the refrigerated section, prompting a response from animal control.

Coyote sightings and interactions in Chicago are increasing as the breeding season, lasting from January to March, gets underway.

An officer eventually grabbed what appeared to be a furry tail and furiously pulled before the wild animal shockingly emerged and landed on the market floor.

Officials gave an update Tuesday on a coyote pulled from a refrigerator shelf at an Aldi in Chicago, a moment that was captured on now-viral video.

When video footage showing an officer working to get an animal out of a shelving unit at an Aldi store in Chicago's Humboldt Park began, no one could have predicted what would eventually come out.

Animal appeared uninjured and will be assessed before being released back into the wild if that is deemed appropriate.

It is mating season for coyotes, which "generally means increased activity in urban areas, including Chicago," according to Chicago Animal Care and Control.

"A coyote walks into an ALDI"sounds a lot like the start of a cheesy dad joke, but that's exactly what happened in a Chicago, Illinois ALDI store this week. And lucky for us, the mayhem was caught on camera.

Imagine shopping for groceries and stumbling upon a wild coyote in the frozen food aisle. That's exactly what happened in a Chicago Aldi store today.