Raptor kills 4-pound dog in Brookline

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | December 23, 2004 | Pohla Smith

[MississippiMasterpiece]

Puppies, kittens or even tiny dogs shouldn't be left outside if birds of prey fly around the neighborhood.

Frank and Barbara Rozzo of Brookline learned that the hard way Tuesday. Rozzo left their four-pound Yorkshire terrier, Gizmo, alone for a couple of minutes on her front porch, and when she returned she found the dog had been fatally injured by a large bird.

She believes it was a hawk.

"It's a very rare occurrence," said Jill Argall, director of the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania Wildlife Center in Penn Hills.

"Usually a hawk can't pick up anything more than three or four pounds," she added. "I get a lot of calls from people worried about kittens and puppies. My best advice is go outside with your animal if you've got a hawk in the area."

Argall said there are "plenty of red-tailed hawks in the area but they don't pose a very big threat." The city also has peregrine falcons. Both are state and federally protected birds.

Mel Schake, superintendent for information and education for the southwest region of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, echoed Argall.

"It's a pretty unusual kind of a thing. I don't recall hearing about anything like that. Usually even small dogs are not at risk, though, obviously, it's not that it can't happen," said Schake, who has been on the job 23 years.

There was no doubt about what befell Gizmo because the bird hung around to see what was going to happen to his prey after he was scared off when Barbara Rozzo came outside and found Gizmo, near death, in the bushes where the bird had carried him.

Rozzo said Gizmo never left the front porch in the winter because he doesn't like to walk in the snow. She put him out and left him long enough to let the family's two Akitas out into the back yard.

She then returned to check on Gizmo.

"He wasn't there," she said. "I went to call him, and there were no footprints. I kept on calling for Gizmo, but there was no Gizmo."

She yelled to a neighbor that her dog was missing just before her storm door banged against a railing, startling the bird.

"Up front, right up in front of me, flies this enormous hawk. He flew out down the driveway onto the cable wires," Rozzo said. She then found Gizmo, shredded by the bird's talons from the neck down.

The bird still hung around for a while, flying to other wires to keep watching.

Trash collectors told Rozzo they later saw the bird flying around the neighborhood.

"That's a pretty bold bird," Argall said. "But when they have a kill, they're going to hang around to see if they can get it back."

Argall and Schake stressed how unusual such an event like this is. Falcons and hawks generally feed on smaller birds and small mammals.

"These birds are certainly capable of taking a rabbit or something like that, and that's not a lot smaller [than Gizmo], " Schake said.

"But people need to know two things -- that this is a really unusual event and we don't know for sure what [kind of bird] it was. And people should know that they can be pretty confident if they keep they're pet in close proximity to them."

Argall added, "They're more afraid of you than you are of them."

The Rozzos yesterday still were mourning the loss of their little pet.

"I couldn't have lost a relative and felt as bad as with this dog. He slept with my husband. He sat on the couch beside him. He had his own chair at the table," Rozzo said.

"He was my buddy," Frank Rozzo added.

[MississippiMasterpiece]

Screech!

[Recovering Hermit]

And all of this time I thought they were extinct.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Y'know: You'd think that for 3.5 billion dollars the Air Force would arm the F/A-22 to do more than kill small dogs!

[martin_fierro]

And I thought all Pittsburgh had were Condors, 'n'at.

[He'sComingBack!]

"My best advice is go outside with your animal if you've got a hawk in the area."

Huh?

[mdittmar]

I have two cats,a hawk often circles outside looking for field mice,when the hawk is out the cats stay in.

Watched a fight between a hawk and bald eagle a week or so ago. Those eagles are amazing,turning upside down in flight to use their talons,the hawk looked about as big as a robin compared to the eagle.

They eagle flew off though,I think he got bored.

[Lokibob]

Driving home one day, I spotted a hawk take a rabbit right off the road in front of me.

Clutching the rabbit in its claws, it was flapping its wings and gaining little altitude. I slowed down and watched.

It got about 200' in altitude when I pulled abreast of them. The hawk decided to release the rabbit and get out of dodge because I was too close.

The rabbits ears flopped in the breeze as he fell the 200'. It looked like he was trying to fly.

[mountaineer]

Thanks for the memories. I went to school with the daughter of the Condors' coach. As for the hawk-dog incident, I wish that hawk would pay a visit to the Chihuahua who lives across the street from us, the yappy little rat.

[HairOfTheDog]

We have bald eagles, and we always wonder if they are gonna circle around for the cat.

[HairOfTheDog]

The rabbit scene would break my heart! I can't take the drama. But I bet he didn't drop it because of you. May be the way he kills it.

[Zacs Mom]

"It's a very rare occurrence," said Jill Argall, director of the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania Wildlife Center in Penn Hills.

"Usually a hawk can't pick up anything more than three or four pounds," she added. "I get a lot of calls from people worried about kittens and puppies. My best advice is go outside with your animal if you've got a hawk in the area."

Not all that rare actually....anywhere in this country.

Above is a shot of a Coopers hawk dining on a pigeon he killed in my yard in the Dallas area

Hawks and owls frequently kill animals they are unable to lift and fly away with ~ when that happens, they simply either dine on it where it was killed (as the hawk above did) or tear off a lift-able chunk and fly away.

Pets (cats, rabbits and small dogs) are all viewed as possible prey by raptors who are, by nature, creatures of opportunity.

[Ditto]

Funny thing. My daughter brought home a tiny Chihuahua a few years ago. I think the thing weighs in at about 6 pounds soaking wet now, (and it thinks it's a Rotwieller), but when it was a pup I got to thinking about it playing in the back yard vs. the hawks that patrol the neighborhood. I called one of those wildlife shows on the radio and asked the guy if the pup was a risk, and he said yes and basically gave the same advice as this article. He said a Red-Tail likely couldn't scoop it up and fly away, but that it could put a serious hurt on it, and that it has happened. He said if the dog is out, stay with it.

Now as to hawks staying away from people, I had one fly over my head last year so close I could feel the breeze. That was right before he crashed into my bedroom window at full speed a nanosecond after the small bird he was chasing also flew into the window. The hawk stayed on the ground a few minutes gathering it's senses and after he saw me standing there (I sure as hell wasn't going to mess with it), managed to fly to the fence where it sat for about 10 minutes trying to clear it's head. The little bird was DOA with the glass.

The red tails may be protected, but they sure as hell aren't endangered, at least in the Pittsburgh area. I see them every day.

[mlmr]

The seagulls starting attacking my 3 pound yorkie pup.

[Jeff Chandler]

We have a pair of barn owls who come by now and then. I always made my daughter go outside with her Boston Terrier and Pug when they were puppies. They would have made a tasty meal for the birds.

[A knight without armor]

It might have been Pale Male, still mad at the world for taking away his nest.