(WNYT/NBC News) Visitors to New York’s State Museum were treated to an unexpected exhibit Tuesday morning: a live coyote.

No one knows for sure how the coyote wound up on the mezzanine of the crowded building in downtown Albany. It was spotted Tuesday morning just outside the glass windows near the popular carousel ride, on the 4th floor.

“Externally, it didn’t look necessarily sick,” said Lt. Liza Bobseine, of the Department of Environmental Conservation Police, “But any time there’s an animal out of place, you have to wonder why and how it’s so close to people and what it’s doing there.”

Just to play it safe, the museum’s fourth floor was evacuated, DEC Conservation Police were called in, and a tranquilizer dart wound up finding its mark.

Bobseine says the animal likely made its way onto the roof via a spiral staircase.

The animal was transported to the DEC Pathology Laboratory in Delmar for evaluation. If given a clean bill of health, the plan is to release it back into the wild.