Northern California coyote survives 2 weeks with plastic jar on head

AUBURN, Calif. - A group of volunteers ended up rescuing a young coyote in Northern California this week after she had a plastic jar stuck on her head for about two weeks and wasn’t able to eat or breathe very well.

Greg Grimm, treasurer for the Gold Country Wildlife Rescue in Auburn, Calif., told KTVU on Wednesday a team of animal lovers have been watching out for her ever since the wild animal was spotted near a gated community on Jan. 23 with a plastic jar stuck on her head.

“We’d go out day and night to find her,” Grimm said. “She wasn’t eating. And her breathing was a little difficult.”

Then, on Monday, a jogger spotted the animal near a clump of bushes by Cherry Acres Road in the El Dorado County town of Cool. A drone had actually been tracking her as well and spotted her by a stream, Grimm said. A wildlife volunteer was waiting for her and grabbed her. 

“In general,  we recommend people don’t grab coyotes,” Grim said. “They can bite and can have rabies. But her head was in this jar and she couldn’t bite.”

The crew brought her to the wildlife center in Auburn, where volunteers cut off the plastic jar, and have been feeding her the equivalent of a protein smoothie called “Carnivore” and Pedialyte to get her electrolytes working. Grimm said they don’t want to feed her too fast or too much because she could get sick and die. He expects they’ll release her back to the wild in a couple of weeks. He  believes she is about nine months old. 

As for where she came from or what the jar once held, Grimm said is unknown.

“But I would suspect it would have had some meat in it,” he said.

The wildlife center is funded through donations, which can be found here.