DENVER -- A Silt, Colo., man made an amazing discovery this week: a coyote frozen solid in its tracks, standing upright next to a road near his home.

Seth Wettlin told TheDenverChannel.com that he ran out of gas on the way home Wednesday night and saw the coyote caught in his headlights on a dirt road, south of Silt.

At first, Wettlin thought it was frozen in fear, but upon closer inspection, he found it was literally frozen solid. The dead animal was standing in snow up to its chest, with its tongue hanging out.

Wettlin returned the next day to take photos of the animal, which was about 5 feet off the dirt road, next to an electrical box.

Wettlin said the animal had an injury on its lower chest that made it appear the coyote had been hit by a vehicle recently.

Wettlin's mother, Gretchen, said the area had been covered in deep snow earlier and she surmised the coyote died while trying to maneuver through the deep snow drifts, with the snow holding it upright after it died.

Seth said on Friday that the animal was still where he found it.