A coyote made its way into Waupaca Foundry Plant 1 Tuesday, Nov. 22, then became trapped after falling into a charge pit.
Brad Lunde, a foundry maintenance worker, reported the animal at 10:22 p.m. and Waupaca officers responded.
According to Sgt. Mario Gracefa’s incident report, foundry employees said the coyote may have chased pigeons that were flying around the charge yard through a service panel that had been opened for maintenance.
Once inside, the coyote may have slipped on sand and fell to the bottom of the charge pit.
Lunde told Gracefa that maintenance staff were down in the pit when they noticed the coyote running around.
Because the pit has 15-foot tall concrete walls, the coyote had no way out except up a flight of metal stairs that led into the main plant, where it could not be trapped.
Gracefa called DNR Warden Jonathan Kaiser, who suggested that the coyote either be tranquilized and removed or destroyed and removed.
Gracefa then contacted Jon Robenhagen, who manages a game farm and is licensed to use tranquilizers to subdue animals.
Robenhagen arrived at the foundry and shot the coyote with a tranquilizer dart.
After the coyote fell asleep, Robenhagen and Gracefa went down into the pit and placed the coyote in a cage.
Robenhagen later gave the coyote an antidote to the tranquilizer. The coyote woke up and Robenhagen transported him outside of city limits and released him back into the wild.
