2007

The Quiznos Coyote

A coyote strolled through the propped-open door of a Quiznos sandwich shop at 37 East Adams Street and plopped down next to a softdrink cooler. Liza Lehrer, assistant director of Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute, calls that “extremely unusual” behavior for coyotes: “For the most part, they’re trying to avoid us.” Their diet typically includes rats, rabbits, birds, and plants. A honey bacon club? Not so much. After an hour, a city animal control crew showed up, and the coyote was eventually released into a private sanctuary in Barrington Hills, which sounds like the lap of luxury for a coyote.

2008

The Roscoe Village Cougar

North Siders reported seeing a really big cat that “hurdled a six-foot fence like nothing.” The police cornered the feline in the 3400 block of North Hoyne Avenue, killing it in a hail of gunfire. “It was turning on the officers,” a captain said. A neighbor reportedly overheard a cop exclaim, “I just killed a fucking cougar!” DNA testing showed that the 124-pound cat was genetically similar to cougars in South Dakota’s Black Hills. “They have to keep moving until they find lady cougars,” a Field Museum expert told the Sun-Times. Nick Cannon can relate.

2019

Monty and Rose

Chicagoans fell in love with these piping plovers who settled down at Montrose Beach, becoming the first of their diminutive species to nest in the city since 1948. After flying south each winter, they returned to the beach every spring until 2022, when Rose failed to show up and (cue sad music) Monty dropped dead. Birders hope their son Imani can find a mate. But with only about 70 pairs of piping plovers in the whole Great Lakes region, Imani faces long odds of finding someone who will swoop right for him.

2019

Chance the Snapper

This alligator mysteriously appeared in the Humboldt Park lagoon in 2019. Chicagoans followed the drama over repeated attempts to capture him — a trapper known as “Alligator Bob” couldn’t snag him, so Frank Robb, an experienced gator wrangler from Florida, was called in to complete the job. Chance, who got his name in a Block Club Chicago poll, was subsequently served smoked at Brian Jupiter’s Frontier. No, no, he was transplanted to a zoological park in St. Augustine, Florida.

2023

Chonkosaurus

The snapping turtle gained international fame in May after naturalist Joey Santore spotted it resting its massive bulk — its weight was later estimated at 40 pounds — on wooden pylons and rusty chains in the North Branch of the Chicago River near Goose Island. “Look at the size of that fucking thing! Oh my God!” Santore enthused in his exaggerated Chicago accent in a video he posted on Twitter. “Look at that beast! Hey, how ya doin’, guy?” The turtle did not reply — perhaps because it turned out to be a girl, likely loaded with eggs.