Posted on 01/18/2011 3:29:23 PM PST by JoeProBono
CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill - An Illinois man credited his Chihuahua's winter jacket with saving the small canine from a great horned owl attack.
George Kalomiris said he was walking the 4-pound dog, Chico, in the early hours Wednesday in Crystal Lake when the owl swooped out of the darkness and tried to grab the canine, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.
However, Kalomiris said the owl could not get a good grip on Chico because of the dog's puffy winter jacket. He said the dog suffered scratches to his head and a puncture wound, but quickly recovered from the injuries.
Rebecca Murphy of the McHenry County Conservation District's Wildlife Resource Center told the Crystal Lake Northwest Herald the owls are "opportunistic" hunters.
"(Owls don't) know the difference between a pet animal or a prey animal," Murphy said. "With a small dog like that, there is a potential that larger raptor species could take them down."
I don't think they care, either.
4 pounds? Forget the owls, a nice breeze will blow that doggie away.
He looked over the see an eagle flying off with her little dog. Can you imagine?
Pet animal or prey animal, to an owl both say the same thing...dinner.
We called and called - we do NOT allow out cats to be out overnight or when we are not at home.
We started calling at 8:30 PM and around 9:30 PM a Great Horned owl swooped out of the sky and tried to get Oslo. He Howled and ran under the porch.
Half an hour later we coaxed him in and treated the two cuts on his back.
The next day, I was on my deck in the afternoon and a similar (likely the same) GH owl flew over the corner of the deck (virtually silently!).
I was happy Oslo was safe inside.
The following month or so there was a FRONT COVER article in National Geographic on the ‘loss’ of the Great Horned owl in the Rockies (especially in Bozeman, MT), written by some dooofus from Bozeman - where this whole thing occurred.
Environmentalists lie and lie and lie.
Must have been a majestic sight.
It use to be my brothers would bag the limit during rabbit season.
Not any more.
When my dog was a wee puppy and we were working in the Book Cliffs of Utah. When he was taken out for his walk, an eagle would quickly show up and start circling, we would have stand next to him while he relived himself.
Shaggy dog tale about a pup tent.
Same here. When our Cairn Terrier was a puppy, you would see the hawks and eagles circling him. We would need to go outside with him until he was big enough that they wouldn’t be able to lift him. Of course, he has a security guard now... a 105 lb. German Shephard. We now have NO worries!
It involve a little dachshund and a hawk. The hawk got ahold of the little pup,but his owner had a broom in her hand and whacked the hawk, causing the hawl to drop the puppy.
Poor thing, every time from then on, when it went outside the first thing it would do was look up.
cats don’t know if roaches are pets or prey either, but they know they are fun to play with.
He looked over the see an eagle flying off with her little dog. Can you imagine?
Actually I can.......
When we got our rat terrier he was 7 lbs. Our German Shepherd would not let him go outside to pee by himself and insisted on escorting the young'un for about a year. We used to joke that he was worried about an owl swooping down and grabbing him. After the terrier was full grown the Shepherd would stand at the door and watch him when he went out. He did that for about six months. He finally decided the terrier is competent to pee without supervision.
That is hysterical. GSD’s like to guard whether the dog/cat or human needs guarding or not. If your dog is anything like mine, he would have gone THROUGH the door in case of trouble. LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.