remove background

[mugs4mutts]

is there a way to remove the yellow background from this using  illustrator?

[creative_curiosity1549]

You'd be better off doing this in a pixel based editor.

[Michael Bullo]

I was able to achieve this result using Image Trace and adjusting the Threshold.

If you want to remove the background (make transparent) click on the arrow next to the word Advanced to reveal more options and activate the option "Ignore White".