Local residents and an animal rehabilitation group came together to rescue a coyote roaming around for a week with a plastic jug stuck on her head in Lake Villa.
Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation said they rescued a coyote on Sunday in Lake Villa.
The organization is a licensed non-profit wildlife rehabilitation center based in Barrington that cares for injured and orphaned wildlife.
The coyote spent a week or more with a large plastic jug stuck on her head.
“Imagine having something stuck over your entire head for a week… maybe longer,” Flint Creek Wildlife said.
“Imagine not being able to see where you were walking, not being able to drink, not be able to eat, not having a safe place to stay, not even knowing where you were and not be able to hear normally,” the organization said.
A conservation police officer contacted the non-profit group on Wednesday about the coyote.
The officer explained that a member of the public left him a message stating that they had seen the coyote for at least two days with the jug on its head.
The Lake Villa Police Department had sent officers out to the reported location on each of those two days but had not been able to find the coyote on either occasion.
Flint Creek Wildlife said they asked the police department to notify them of any sightings as they would respond to rescue it.
The police contacted the organization on Saturday about a sighting but no caller information was available and the coyote could not be located.
A Lake Villa resident contacted Flint Creek Wildlife on Sunday after the police department gave her their contact information.
The woman reported two men had successfully removed the jug from the coyote’s head but the animal was not moving.
Flint Creek Wildlife responded to the location and secured the coyote before transporting it back to its facility.
The coyote was receiving fluids to correct dehydration but is expected to make a full recovery.