Coyote spends week with milk jug stuck to her head. Then Illinois community steps up

For a week in Lake Villa, Illinois, a coyote roamed the area with a plastic milk jug stuck to her head.

Unable to perform many of life’s everyday tasks, the coyote turned away from its potential rescuers.

Until a wildlife rehabilitation group — aided largely by the Illinois community — “hit the jackpot.”

“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,” Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation said in a Nov. 10 Facebook post. “And so it was for this coyote in Lake Villa who spent a week or more with a milk jug stuck on her head.”

The group said in the post it learned of the coyote’s “predicament” Wednesday, Nov. 6. A conservation officer informed them that a resident saw the coyote with the jug stuck to her head for two days, but the community member did not provide contact information for the group to follow up.

Police learned of a sighting of the coyote Saturday, but she was unable to be located, the group said. Then, on Sunday, Nov. 10, members of the community took action.

A resident named Priscilla came into contact with the coyote and sent pictures of the animal to the wildlife rehabilitation group.

“Before we could even get her address, she advised me that they had removed the jug but the coyote was not moving,” the group said. “Priscilla sent me pictures again — this time of the coyote without the milk jug.”

A member of the wildlife rehabilitation went to the area and secured the coyote. The wild animal received IV fluids due to dehydration, but the group said she is expected to make a full recovery.

Lake Villa is about a 60-mile drive northwest from Chicago.

This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 5:59 AM with the headline "Coyote spends week with milk jug stuck to her head. Then Illinois community steps up."