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January 17, 2008

Coyote launches vicious attack on dog

By James Beaty

His name is Hank, but it might as well be Lucky after the small mixed-breed dog survived what his owner believes is a coyote attack on the edge of the city.

Hank, who had been treated for his wounds earlier this week by Dr. Becky Sells at the Renegar Animal Hospital, got a check-over this morning by Lauretta Fontaine, a veterinarian assistant.

He’s recovering from a gaping bite wound in his neck and on both of his sides.

Fontaine said that other dogs that have been attacked by coyotes have also been treated at Renegar’s.

That prompted Office Manager Carol Henley to tell about her Pygmy goats that were attacked and killed by a coyote.

“We lost three of them in three nights,” she said.

How did she know a coyote killed her animals?

“I saw him eating them,” said Henley, who said she took a shot at the coyote before he fled. She now keeps her goats in a safe place, she said.

News-Capital Photojournalist Kevin Harvison said he didn’t see the animals that attacked his dog, but he’s familiar enough with coyotes that he has no doubt they were the culprits.

Harvison said he let his dog outside for a few minutes on Monday night.

“He started growling and ran toward the woods,” Harvison said. He didn’t worry about that, because the dog had been running toward the woods for about a week whenever he’s let outside, Harvison said,

Harvison then poured himself a soft drink, but by the time he opened the door, he heard yelping sounds in the woods, then a rustling sound of larger animals fleeing.

“I took two steps and he came dragging his hind legs,” Harvison said of his dog. He and his wife, Mindi, wrapped the severely injured dog in a towel and rushed to Renegar Animal Hospital, where Sells was present due to another emergency.

Although the Harvisons had been afraid Hank would not survive, he made it — although he’s sore and gets the trembling shakes when he goes to the vet’s office for a check-up.

Harvison said he’s convinced that coyotes attacked his dog because they made a point of staying in the darkness and luring the smaller animal toward them — something he’d known coyotes to try and do before when he had lived in the county.

Game Warden Supervisor Todd Tobey of the Oklahoma State Department of Wildlife Conservation said he hadn’t heard any recent complaints of coyotes attacking dogs. In fact, he said he hadn’t had a single verifiable case of coyotes attacking dogs at all.

“Generally, coyotes usually eat rabbits, gophers, rodents and other wild animals,” he said.

“I’ve had them come up fairly close to my house,” he said.

Coyote populations in a given area can fluctuate, depending on the food supply, he said.

“Their populations are cyclic. They can go up or down,” he said.

One bit of advice is not to turn a dog or dogs loose on coyotes, which sometimes get just out of sight in the darkness surrounding a home at night and start yipping or yelping.

Some of those familiar with coyotes’ behavior believe the animals use that as a ploy, especially at night, to lure domestic dogs into the darkness.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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