A Villages couple’s dog was snatched and killed by a coyote early Wednesday morning in the Village of Tall Trees.
Denise Edwards took her pair of Chihuahuas out this morning between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m. at her home on Welcome Way.
Edwards went to fetch her neighbors’ newspaper and put it up closer to their house. That’s when she heard her 13-pound, 3-year-old Chihuahua named Bailey “screaming.”
An “enormous” coyote had locked its jaw on Bailey. The dog’s sister, Pita, also a Chihuahua, tried to fight off the coyote and escaped unharmed.
“That coyote was as big as our neighbor’s Golden Retriever,” Edwards said.
She tried to run after it and the commotion began waking up neigbhors who came out to help.
In a flash, the coyote got away with Bailey.
Coyotes reportedly have been a problem in the neighborhood.
“We’ve all been complaining about it,” Edwards said.
Most coyote attacks on pets occur either at night or in the early evening and early morning hours, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The presence of coyotes has been documented in all 67 Florida counties.
The FWC offers these tips to keep you and your pets safe when it comes to coyotes:
• Be careful if you’re going to walk your pet in wooded areas or areas where there are a lot of other plants growing, which could hide coyotes. Also, keep your dog close, on a short leash.
• Keep cats indoors. When cats roam freely there is an increased risk that they could be attacked by coyotes.
• Be cautious if you are going to pick up your pet when you see a coyote. Picking up a pet may stop a coyote attack, but it can also lead to a situation in which an aggressive coyote continues to go after that pet while in the arms of a person.
