It was an ordinary Tuesday morning at a Pretoria industrial safety supplies shop until staff opened the ladies’ bathroom door and came face-to-face with a black-backed jackal.

Pretoria Rekord reports that the startled animal had wandered into the building overnight, sending employees scrambling for help.

The Owl Rescue Centre’s Brendon Murray quickly responded to the call, gently capturing the frightened jackal with a net before transporting it to a nearby nature reserve, where it was safely released back into the wild.

Murray says encounters like these, while surprising, are becoming increasingly common as Pretoria’s urban sprawl extends into natural habitats.

Residents frequently report hearing jackals calling along the city’s greenbelts and the mountain ridge behind Tshwane University of Technology, he adds.

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