Posted on 04/26/2012 5:36:08 PM PDT by PilotDave
I have a Yorkie and she is my pal. Weighs maybe 5 lbs. Never thought of a hawk/owl getting her. Couldn’t stand it if that happened.
I was out in the backyard with 4 Ibizans, 1 Dobermann and a Portuguese Podengo Medio.
The PPM was by the back fence sniffing at rabbit trails when I sensed something overhead.
It was a large bird, circling lazily, hard to see as it had the sun at its back.
I just watched it for a while and then realized it was getting much closer, very fast.
With horror, I realized it was a Golden Eagle entering a “dive” and aimed straight at my PPM who wasn’t even 20 feet away from me.
I emitted what can only be described as some primordial, universal alarm shriek and she instantly flattened to the ground and I ran to her and scooped her up on the run.
The other dogs had already gathered behind me on our flight to the safety of the porch.
The freaking eagle _just kept coming_.
It did not *care* that 5 other dogs and a human were between it and its intended prey...my PPM.
I could feel the pressure of its wings as it swooped right above my head.
“Attended” doesn’t mean -crap- if those damn huge things -really- want your pet.
So now, I not only ‘attend’ my dogs while outside, I do so with a rifle nearby.
If my little dog had run instead of hitting the deck, she’d be dead.
Thanks be to God that she did not.
I cannot outrun a diving eagle.
All of that notwithstanding, please do not allow your pets alone outside in areas where such things congregate and _be armed_.
*Just* your ‘eternal vigilance’ may *not* be enough.
Last year a hawk dropped a dove on the lower part of our gambrel roof sounding much like a tree striking on the house. We don’t let our cat outside.
They did observe it spreading to other crow populations in Japan, and being passed down generation to generation, so they do seem to be teaching each other.
I watched a Red Tailed Hawk come down in my back yard and pick up a squirrel off the ground the same as it did to these dogs. The squirrels wiggled and squirmed and at about 20 feet off the ground it managed to get free. It fell to the ground, appeared stunned and then crawled off. The bird did not come back for it.
Is he salting their tails?
great comment
That’s quite a story you have there. I felt like I was right there as you described it. My little dog would’ve hit the deck too. That was one brazen eagle! It also reminds me of how brazen coyotes are in their attempts to snatch dogs from their owners, even when on a leash! That has happened in my area a couple of times and my neighbor was recently stalked by a coyote while walking her little dog.
You always read stuff like “eagles have a wingspan of about 7 feet”.
That doesn’t really sink in until they’re right over your head.
They are really -really- big birds.
Many years ago I was on my way to the mall and cars were stopped along the edge of a pasture and everybody was watching something going on in it.
Naturally, I stopped too.
Way off in the distance, there were 2 Golden Eagles on the ground, fighting.
Even from as far away as I was [about a hundred yards] they looked *big*.
Flash forward 20 years and I was riding my ATV up in the woods and a Bald Eagle came zooming down overhead from seemingly nowhere and I instinctively flattened out over the ATV’s tank when the shadow passed by.
[I’d have made a good chicken]...LOL
The PPM is a rescue and had been abused and she will ‘flatten out’ if she thinks she’s in trouble.
I never thought I’d be oddly “glad” somebody had beaten a dog but her past saved her life.
Ordinarily, she’s the little Velociraptor who has *way* more heart than brains.
[she ‘beats up’ my 100 lb Dobe and she’s not even 1/4 his size]
Coyotes *were* a problem here a few years back.
A pack of them backed my dad down a rocky, unstable ridge but he didn’t dare turn his back on them.
They *were* coming for him.
It was the first [and last] time he’d ever stepped into the woods without a rifle.
As soon as he got to his truck and slid the rifle out, they scattered.
It’s not good to have “Coyotes” [ha...they’re eastern wolves] be that bold, big and -smart-.
The DNR stopped protecting them after too many newborn livestock were killed by them and declared open season.
Don’t really hear from them much, anymore.
The only thing I can figure about the eagle was that the lousy chicken hawks had killed ~so~ many rabbits and squirrels after they became “protected” that it was desperate.
[I’d hate to think *all* of them are that gutsy]
Wasn’t there a thread here about somebody’s Dachshund being snatched and then dropped by a raptor?
They use eagles to kill wolves in Europe so size isn’t really any guarantee.
My Ibizan Hounds work as a pack and the other dogs flush the birds and the waiting dog leaps into the air and grabs it.
Six feet from a standstill is *nothing* to them.
I remember the subject coming up before but don’t remember what kind of dog was snatched.
My next door neighbors have had quite a few English Mastiffs. They have always had females and the most any of them have weighed is around 200 lbs. They have 2 young females now and they have only gotten up to about 150 lbs. These are sweet girls, the others not so much.
I’m glad you were able to save your Portuguese Podengo Medio. I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten the experience either.
Thanks for the reminder. :-)
Sure she has.
She’s a bit of a ninny and all she thinks about outside is hunting those wascally wabbits.
Oh, I’m sure she’s smarter than Elmer Fudd. :-)
We were out hunting with our golden once and a bird flew right into her mouth. Surprised all of us (her too). It wasn’t any sort of game bird (I don’t recall what it was). We made her let it go and it flew away. Wish I’d had a video camera back then.
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