Coyote with head stuck in statue rescued, returned to wild in Waukesha County

OCONOMOWOC, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Denise Folcik said when she got the call last month, she immediately got nervous. After all, she'd never rescued a coyote before.

On that mid-January day, Folcik, a caretaker with the Humane Animal Welfare Society (HAWS), went to a Waukesha County house not entirely sure what to expect. She just knew a coyote had somehow gotten its head stuck in a statue.

"We located the residents [who called], and the lady took us to the backyard where there it was," Folcik said. "There was a coyote with - kind of ironically - with his head stuck in a Saint Francis of Assisi statue, which is the patron saint of animals."

Whether or not that was some kind of sign, Folcik said she was relieved the 40-pound female coyote did not put up a fight, and she and a fellow caretaker brought out a stretcher.

"I think she knew she was in trouble, and hopefully, she knew we were there to help," Folcik said. "I don't know that; I want to believe that."

Talking to neighbors, Folcik was able to gather the coyote was chasing a rabbit. Given the conditions, she said it made sense the coyote was so desperate in its pursuit.

"It was right after we got the big snowstorm," Folcik said. "So, there was a lot of snow on the ground, so I'm sure she was looking for whatever she could find."

The coyote did get her prey -- Folcik noted she had "feasted on a little bit of the bunny" -- but it came at a potentially deadly cost. Folcik said when the coyote thrashed about trying to remove the statue, it caused her neck to swell, tightening the statue's hold even more.

Eventually, the animal's rescuers brought her to the Wildlife in Need Center (WINC) in Oconomowoc for help getting unstuck. 

"They sedated the coyote, removed her head from the statue to see if there was injury, and come to find out her neck was swollen, and she did end up with a little infection," Folcik said. "But they wanted to treat her, took care of her, and then just a week ago today, we released her back into the wild -- which was amazing."

Folcik said he was thrilled to get a call from WINC staff last week. They wanted her to be the one to release the coyote from its cage.

"She darted out of that cage like nothing I've ever seen," Folcik said with a laugh. "She was happy to be free again, yes."

According to a social media post last week from WINC, the center typically avoids naming animals in its care. However, given the irony of the coyote getting its head stuck in a statue of Saint Assisi, the patron saint of animals, her rescuers nicknamed her, "Frannie."