It was a first for the Jefferson Healthcare Medical Center and it was a first for Center Valley Animal Rescue’s founder and director Sara Penhallegon.

“That was a new one and my first coyote in the hospital,” Penhallegon said of the four-legged creature’s recent encounter at the healthcare center on Sheridan Street.

The coyote darted through the express clinic’s automatic doors on Feb. 7, running wild through a hallway and smashing through a glass panel before cornering itself in an outdoor courtyard.

“She was a 25-pound adult coyote and had a wound on her head and nose,” Penhallegon said.

The animal was transported to Center Valley Animal Rescue to be tended for its injuries.

Believe it or not, coyotes tend to be easier to operate on than the average pet dog or cat, Penhallegon said.

“Coyotes are one of my easiest patients, actually. They get a bad rap,” She said. “Some of my dog patients are not as good.”

After a terrible Tuesday, the coyote received multiple sutures for her snout and spent the night at the animal rescue to recover.

She was set free to return to the woods last Wednesday evening.

“The best thing was to get her back to the wild as quickly as we could,” Penhallegon said.

Injury-wise, the animal sustained “nothing lasting, nothing to stop her from being a coyote … her fear factor was way worse than the injuries.”

Theorizing on how the coyote even ended up at the hospital in the first place, Penhallegon speculated on what could’ve drawn a wild animal to the facility.

“Animals in general can get in weird situations,” she said. “Maybe she had close call on the road and took off running, and she ended up running down towards the hospital and could’ve seen people.”

Considering the express clinic entrance’s shaded location, the wild animal could’ve seen it as a potential hiding spot.

“That door and entrance would’ve looked like a nice, dark, quiet place to go,” Penhallegon said. “She got into her den and realized it wasn’t a den at all and melted down.”

“The big takeaway is coyotes aren’t scary and they’re not going to hurt people,” Penhallegon said.

The situation is different for small animals like cats, little dogs, chickens, and other small prey animals

Coyotes are predatory animals, though, and if people leave chickens or other critters out, the coyotes will do what carnivores do, Penhallegon said.

The coyote entered the facility on Sheridan Street around 10:05 a.m. Tuesday, according to hospital communications director Amy Yaley, and multiple local law enforcement and animal control teams were called to the scene.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Port Townsend Police Department, Jefferson County Animal Services, and Center Valley Animal Rescue coordinated together to corral the coyote, who’d sat down in the courtyard after being injured.

Hospital staff put up paper posters around the courtyard-facing windows to calm the animal as help arrived, according to Yaley.

The coyote was contained with a net, sedated, and transported to Center Valley Animal Rescue in Quilcene for treatment before being set free.

To view the video of the female coyote returning to the wild, visit the animal rescue’s facebook page at facebook.com/search/top?q=center%20valley%20animal%20rescue.