A team is searching for a donkey that remains on the loose as of Tuesday after it escaped from its owner in Bull Valley and began running around the Woodstock area Sunday.
A McHenry County sheriff’s deputy was flagged down by a citizen around 12:30 p.m. Sunday in the area of Country Club Road and Mason Hill Road in unincorporated Woodstock.
Bystanders told the deputy that a donkey was running around the area, according to police radio traffic.
The donkey reportedly escaped from a property in the 7500 block of Mason Hill Road in Bull Valley.
911 dispatchers also received a call a short time later that the donkey was spotted near Lily Pond Road and McConnell Road, according to police radio traffic.
The caller reported that the donkey was headed into a wooded area on a farm traveling southbound toward Route 14.
A woman posted in a community Facebook group around 1 p.m. Sunday that her daughter and her daughter’s father saw a donkey running loose on Country Club Road in Woodstock.
The donkey was running side by side with cars and her daughter saw the donkey fall at one point behind some trees before getting back up and running off again.
Other people reported seeing the donkey running down Route 14 by Walmart in Woodstock a short time later and then by Menard’s.
One woman posted a video of the animal running across traffic near a stoplight and said the donkey nearly got hit by a vehicle.
The donkey eventually made its way into downtown Woodstock. Ortmann’s Red Iron Tavern, located at 101 East Church Street, posted a photo of the animal running down the street on Sunday.
Mike Smith, who owns SmithicAir, a drone company that takes images of real estate and helps find lost pets, said he went out to assist with the search on Monday along with Michael Davis, whose company is Best Furry Friend Search and Rescue, which also utilizes a drone to help find lost pets.
The search on Monday for the donkey, whose name is Dominic, turned up no results.
Smith told Lake and McHenry County Scanner he searched the area west of Route 47 and Charles Road and Davis started his search closer to downtown Woodstock before working his way up Route 47.
Smith said he is unsure of how Dominic escaped but heard that they took away the donkey’s girlfriend.
A rescue team and Davis were out searching again on Tuesday amid reports from the public who said they spotted the animal.