It was unusual for Village of Pennecamp resident Susan Corona’s five-year-old dog, named Jon Snow, to ask his owner to go outside in the early hours of Thursday, but Corona decided to let the Chihuahua-Miniature Pinscher mix out in the backyard. After all, Corona had installed an invisible fence to keep Jon Snow from running away.
But everything happened so fast, according to Corona, when she heard a dog scream. “I saw this figure,” said Corona who recalled the events that happened at 4 a.m. Jon Snow had been killed and dragged away by a coyote.
“I’ve never ever seen a coyote, this animal was so fast,” she said.
Until now, Corona had no worries of coyotes since she didn’t live near the woods, golf courses or ponds, but rather in a cul-de-sac surrounded by homes.
After the dog’s death, Corona called Sumter County Animal Control, who could not do anything about it since it was a wild animal that killed her dog. She also alerted Community Watch.
Corona is left with two other dogs, who are larger in size, and says that they could have put up a fight with the coyote. She said Jon Snow was little and so sweet, and that she will never get over what happened to him.
“This was just senseless,” she said in regard to Thursday morning’s ordeal.
“The Villages should make an effort to track them [Coyotes],” she later said. Corona also offered the idea to catch and release coyotes into areas far from residences.
“People need to know that no matter what, they should never allow their pets to go outside off a leash, especially at night,” she stated.
A Chihuahua was recently killed by a coyote in the Village of Tall Trees.
