Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Hawk Takes Dog


Some years ago a friend of mine, JJ Bischoff, told me a story about his sister. She had taken outside a basket of shih tsu puppies for their very first outing in their back yard. She gently took out each puppy from the basket and allowed them to scamper about the yard. Then something horrifying happened...a huge hawk swooped down from a tree and took off one of the puppies.

Yesterday, I heard a similar story from one of Bama's friends. I was told that Speeg's sister had her new Christmas puppy in the front yard of their home. The puppy was a lively Jack Russell Terrier. Suddenly a hawk came down and took the puppy into it's talons. The girl began screaming, "My puppy! My puppy!". The hawk flew over the house with the pup. Her brother and his friend went in pursuit. It happened that the hawk dropped the puppy into the woods behind their home. It was alive and appeared to be ok except for some talon marks, which are still visible.
Both of these stories have been confirmed to be true.
More confirmed stories can be seen here: http://www.monroekennelclub.com/my_dog_your_dog.htm
Here is another story from Nov. 8, 2007
Hazards From the Air
Florida Dog Owners Fear Flying Menace GULF BREEZE, Fla. (AP) — Move over coyotes. Some northwest Florida residents are worried because they believe hawks are swooping down from the sky and attacking their small dogs.Gulf Breeze residents have seen their pets fall victim to coyotes before, and the city even sets traps to control their population.Martha Powers said she began yelling after seeing a large bird flying down toward her dog. The bird turned away. And Caren Gardner believes that her 3-pound Pomeranian was taken by a hawk last year 'within minutes' after she let her out to play

10 comments:

Jeane Goforth said...

My sister lives in Estes Park, Colorado and worked for a vet for many years. It's a fact of life there that you don't let a dog smaller than a cocker spaniel outside unsupervised. Same for small children. Hawks, owls, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, and bears are all possibilites. I have heard coyotes outside my window all night while staying there--and this is in town. The coyotes lure bigger dogs away from their yard and then the pack attacks. Coyotes rolled her bunny cage out into the neighboring field before she realized to move it onto a balcony. (Bunnies survived.) Just this year they came home from work to have the neighbors hand them photos of a bear in the tree next to their deck.
I saw a coyote on the side of I-65 near Pelham just last night.

B said...

Thanks for commenting on my blog! I think number 2 took the cake!

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Jeane Goforth-That is something abou tthe animals in Colorado. My husband lived there for a time with his mom who was in the military there. They both often talk about the area bears. Scary about the little bunnies!
I too have seen the coyotes in the area. Several times I have seen a pack of them (always 3 or 4) by Bearden Farms in Helena/Pelham. LAst year a fox ran out from one of my shrubs in front of my house. Years ago by the Quarry in Helena, I saw a bobcat ( occasionally known as the Bay lynx) that had been hit. I passed by it and saw the spots and had to come back and get out of my car for a closer look. Sure enough! It was just strange to see a spotted cat there. I am always looking out now.
Brandy- I agree. And I enjoyed reading your blog!

Shelly said...

Hey! Thanks for the blog comments!
When you want to put words or phrases as a link... Just highlight it then clink on the link button. Put your web address into the dialog and click ok. It magically makes the words become the link.
I don't know how they do this stuff but it's pretty cool, huh?

Amy said...

Oh dear that is just horrifying! Our dog is huge, but when he was a sweet little puppy we would have been terribly tramatized by something like that!

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

Yikes! No bear or coyote here in these parts of MD, but plenty of hawks. Thankfully my dog is 45 pounds!

Speaking Thru Me Ministries said...

you are kidding me!!!! it is bad enough when my balloon gets away, but my puppy. I would just about die!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, this really scares me AND breaks my heart. I have heard of this before and actually, my vet warned me not to leave my little Jack Russell outside unsupervised because we have a lot of hawks in our area of Georgia...

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Shelly-you are so kind to offer me help. My sincere thanks!
Amy-I worry of this all the time. I have small dogs (shih tsu's)
Tracy-Beware!
Leigh Gray-I know, I know!
Lulu- The pup in the story was a Jack Terrier.Be cautious!

Mama Teaching 3 said...

This happened to us this morning. I am finding out this is very common. :( My sweet pug puppy was out for her morning walk with my oldest son. It swooped down and tried to carry her off. My son stomped and screamed at the bird and it flew off leaving our baby with punture wounds all over her head. She was bleeding everywhere. Her little eye is red, too. At first I thought her eye was gone there was so much blood. It was so traumatic. I had to dress and load up three children and rush to the vet. If my son had not startled the bird he was about to take off. My son said his wings were out, full wingspan. You should have heard us all screaming and going nuts. It was something. This pug is my christmas puppy. I would have been devastated. She is on pain meds and antibiotics now. I pray she heals without mishap.

WALK those little ones on a leash!