DOVER — How many businesses can a woodchuck chuck on a warm summer evening in downtown Dover? Apparently several, as workers and patrons throughout downtown are abuzz about a “ferocious” rodent that chased people in multiple locations Thursday, stole a man’s flip-flop off his foot, and tried to go in for some guitar lessons before its capture.

Police say no one was bitten, scratched or injured by the woodchuck, also known as a groundhog. Officers captured it with the help of an Earcraft Music patron shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday. The animal has since been put down.

The animal’s antics were the talk of the city Friday, though, with locals swapping stories about being chased in a parking lot near Janetos market on Main Street, a comical but unsettling scene on Blue Latitudes restaurant's outdoor patio, and the woodchuck’s several attempts to enter local storefronts.

“Definitely nothing like this has ever happened,” said Blue Latitudes bartender Emily George, who was working when the woodchuck came upon her Central Avenue business around 5:45 p.m. “It was really, really something.”

The first sighting reportedly occurred in a lot near Janetos market, where the animal chased a woman walking past the store on her way home from work. The woman, who has posted a video of her encounter on a Dover Facebook page, couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Kendall Pond Pizza employees say they saw the woodchuck and its encounter with that woman before losing sight of the animal when it crossed Main Street and went down the embankment behind the Cocheco Mill Courtyard.

The next encounter came out of the blue at Blue Latitudes, according to George.

“I was on bar and one of the servers came up and said, ‘What’s the protocol for a groundhog chasing after people?’” said George.

George went outside to the restaurant’s patio and found a man standing atop a chair as the woodchuck was running around him and chasing people at other nearby tables.

“The groundhog came up to the patio and immediately went up to him and grabbed the flip-flop off of him,” said George, adding the man had a baby in his lap when it happened. “I went out there and he chased me around. He was chasing people around and jumped off the patio and tried to come into the door.”

As Blue Latitudes staff called animal control, the woodchuck ran across the street and tried to enter Earcraft Music.

“We left our door ajar and it came rolling into the store,” said Earcraft employee Scott Sutherland, recounting information relayed to him by coworkers because he wasn’t in the store at the time of the incident. “He hissed at our store manager Andy and bared its teeth.”

Sutherland said the credit for capturing the woodchuck goes to John Avery, a parent who was in the store to pick up his son after a lesson. Sutherland said a quick-thinking Avery grabbed a nearby trash can when he saw the woodchuck, overturned it and put it on top of the animal, trapping it and preventing it from getting very far in the store.

Police responded shortly afterward and removed the woodchuck from the store by sliding a board under the trash can to effectively seal the animal inside, according to Sutherland.

The responding officers weren’t on duty Friday morning to share details, but Dover police said the animal no longer poses a risk to the community.

It was unknown whether the animal had rabies or another medical issue. Dover Police Lt. Brant Dolleman said a veterinary examination wasn't performed before the animal was “put down due to its actions.”

“Someone told the man not to put his shoe back on in case there was saliva on it,” George said of the Blue Latitudes patron whose shoe was ripped off by the groundhog.

Employees and customers have been talking about the woodchuck all day, staff at multiple businesses confirmed Friday.

“They’re just all kind of laughing and just blown away by it,” said George, adding the only other notable animal encounter that has happened inside Blue Latitudes involved a seagull that strolled in several years ago. “Everyone thinks it’s a crazy story and is saying they hope it’s not rabid and that everyone’s OK. I hope that guy is OK, too, the little groundhog.”

Downtown workers have also been sharing plenty of laughs about the incident.

“We're open and groundhog-free. Ten percent off if you see your shadow,” Sutherland joked.