‘It Just Happened So Fast’
Dramatic online video captured the minute a purple-tailed hawk attacked a 12-week-previous chihuahua named Lola.
In the video, as noted by KHOU-Television set, Lola is going for walks all over her front garden in Missouri City, Texas, when the hawk swooped down and tried to snatch her.
But Lola—who weighs only four pounds—quickly ran away towards bushes nearer to property.
The good news is for the pup, her operator Kathryn Garver was only a few ft absent at the time of the assault and swiftly recognized what was going on, for every KHOU.
“I didn’t even see it right up until it was proper on major of her. That’s how fast it happened,” Garver claimed. “There was practically nothing I could’ve finished to have stopped it because I did not see it until eventually it was already—she would’ve presently been absent.”
Y’ALL. THIS Movie. 😳😳 Look at as a purple-tailed hawk attempts to go right after this little 4lb Chihuahua. The good thing is, 12-week-old Lola is all right. We speak with the pup’s mom on @KHOU at 10. pic.twitter.com/id4gQOSbTN
— Janelle Bludau (@JanelleKHOU) November 27, 2021
She extra: “It felt like he was right there and just, it was so speedy. It just transpired so quick, and I actually imagined he experienced gotten her.”
Just after the attack, Garver observed the hawk was even now waiting around in a tree in her yard.
Just last yr, Garver’s other chihuahua, 14-yr-outdated Cassie, was killed by a neighbor’s pet.
“She was at their fence barking and the other canine, from the hole that they had dug, achieved in, grabbed her and took her, and mauled her to loss of life,” Garver recalled.
Hawks and other birds of prey have been acknowledged to concentrate on smaller dogs on celebration.
The Wildlife Center of Texas instructed KHOU that even although hawk attacks stay fairly scarce, owners are not recommended to leave their animals exterior unattended.
“It’s a risk that the hawk could’ve grabbed the pet and could’ve accomplished some damage, quite possibly even killed the pet dog, but this is a really exceptional occurrence for hawks,” mentioned Brooke Yahney, a spokesperson with the Wildlife Middle of Texas.
There are several techniques pet proprietors can safeguard their furry friends from birds of prey these kinds of as protecting a tidy yard acquiring rid of hen feeders and getting a pest-command procedure that cuts down the range of rodents, which are 1 of the major prey animals of hawks, in accordance to K9 of Mine, a pet dog care suggestions internet site.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Some pet house owners also gown their canine in brightly colored vests containing spikes, which are considered to help prevent predators such as hawks.
Lola is not the initial puppy to be specific by significant birds. In 2019, a chihuahua named Gizmo was taken by a seagull from his family’s garden in the United Kingdom. And in 2018, a chihuahua in Australia was brutally attacked by an eagle.
