A small dog is recovering from six puncture wounds after an apparent attack by a Great Horned Owl in a backyard in Sherwood Park, Alta.
Anita Labrentz said she found her 15-year-old Shih Tzu, Bailey, lying injured in the snow on Tuesday night while a “dark shape” loomed above.
“She was lying there with her eyes open and her tongue hanging out so I really thought she was gone,” Labrentz told CTV Edmonton. “I just reached in and grabbed her.”
Labrentz said her daughter captured video of an owl perched atop a nearby tree moments after the attack. She said that in the 25 years she lived in the home it never occurred to her to look out for birds of prey.
“I really hadn’t thought that our backyard had anything to be concerned about,” she said.
Bailey was left with six puncture wounds, which appear to be from an owl’s talons. A vet had to shave a large patch of the elderly dog’s fur to get a look at the damage.
Bailey wasn’t the only one in the neighbourhood to get up close and personal with an owl.
Nine hours before the attack, neighbour Jessica Cook snapped a photo of a Great Horned Owl that visited the backyard deck of her nearby home, which she believes was the same bird.
“When I tried to tip-toe over, he actually turned his head and gave me quite the stare-down,” she said.
A spokesperson for Strathcona County’s environmental team told CTV Edmonton that owls are common in the area but attacks on pets are rare.
The Canadian Wildlife Federation describes Great Horned Owls as “large and powerful” predators that mostly eat mammals including shrews, songbirds, skunks, geese and sometimes rabbits and hares.
Cook said she is worried about the safety of pets and children.
“I have no idea what (owls) are capable of,” she said.
With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Dan Grummett
