Coyote interrupts Northridge students' first day of school after walking into classroom

NORTHRIDGE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The first day of school for students at a Northridge campus was suddenly interrupted when a coyote wandered into a classroom.

Teachers and administrators were in the halls of Our Lady of Lourdes Wednesday around 7:30 a.m. waiting for students to arrive when the coyote walked into an eighth-grade classroom.

The wild animal was safely removed by animal control.

Wildlife expert Jennifer Brent says if you come in contact with a coyote or any wild animal, the best thing to do is back off.

"Don't feed it, don't try to pet it," she said. "These are all things that are detrimental to the coyote and detrimental to you. You want the coyote to get away from you, get away from people."

Brent said as climate change drives the extreme drought, animals like coyotes will flee their natural habitat and head into neighborhoods - desperate for food and water.

"The animals are suffering. The people are suffering," Brent said.

Since last year, California has suffered extreme drought conditions. Wildlife is not only suffering, but dying and climate experts admit people have played a part in causing it.

"It will be a very sad day when we say goodbye to the last finch, the last giraffe, the last elephant, and right now frankly, we are looking at that in our lifetime."