2 ?? Hawks and play pens First what kind of hawks are there where you live that you worry about them. Hawks around here will not pick up anything bigger than a mouse or snake. Second how do you use those pens don't they climb out? My Riley sure did. |
You can read this and I think it will enlighten you about hawks. Even if they cannot carry your small dog, their talons would probably injure it very badly or fatally. Raptor kills 4-pound dog in Brookline Thursday, December 23, 2004 By Pohla Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Puppies, kittens or even tiny dogs shouldn't be left outside if birds of prey fly around the neighborhood. Frank and Barbara Rozzo of Brookline learned that the hard way Tuesday. Rozzo left their four-pound Yorkshire terrier, Gizmo, alone for a couple of minutes on her front porch, and when she returned she found the dog had been fatally injured by a large bird. She believes it was a hawk. "It's a very rare occurrence," said Jill Argall, director of the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania Wildlife Center in Penn Hills. "Usually a hawk can't pick up anything more than three or four pounds," she added. "I get a lot of calls from people worried about kittens and puppies. My best advice is go outside with your animal if you've got a hawk in the area." Argall said there are "plenty of red-tailed hawks in the area but they don't pose a very big threat." The city also has peregrine falcons. Both are state and federally protected birds. Mel Schake, superintendent for information and education for the southwest region of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, echoed Argall. "It's a pretty unusual kind of a thing. I don't recall hearing about anything like that. Usually even small dogs are not at risk, though, obviously, it's not that it can't happen," said Schake, who has been on the job 23 years. There was no doubt about what befell Gizmo because the bird hung around to see what was going to happen to his prey after he was scared off when Barbara Rozzo came outside and found Gizmo, near death, in the bushes where the bird had carried him. Rozzo said Gizmo never left the front porch in the winter because he doesn't like to walk in the snow. She put him out and left him long enough to let the family's two Akitas out into the back yard. She then returned to check on Gizmo. "He wasn't there," she said. "I went to call him, and there were no footprints. I kept on calling for Gizmo, but there was no Gizmo." She yelled to a neighbor that her dog was missing just before her storm door banged against a railing, startling the bird. "Up front, right up in front of me, flies this enormous hawk. He flew out down the driveway onto the cable wires," Rozzo said. She then found Gizmo, shredded by the bird's talons from the neck down. The bird still hung around for a while, flying to other wires to keep watching. Trash collectors told Rozzo they later saw the bird flying around the neighborhood. "That's a pretty bold bird," Argall said. "But when they have a kill, they're going to hang around to see if they can get it back." Argall and Schake stressed how unusual such an event like this is. Falcons and hawks generally feed on smaller birds and small mammals. "These birds are certainly capable of taking a rabbit or something like that, and that's not a lot smaller [than Gizmo], " Schake said. "But people need to know two things -- that this is a really unusual event and we don't know for sure what [kind of bird] it was. And people should know that they can be pretty confident if they keep they're pet in close proximity to them." Argall added, "They're more afraid of you than you are of them." The Rozzos yesterday still were mourning the loss of their little pet. "I couldn't have lost a relative and felt as bad as with this dog. He slept with my husband. He sat on the couch beside him. He had his own chair at the table," Rozzo said. "He was my buddy," Frank Rozzo added. http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04358/431317.stm |
OMG what a horrible story - that just made me cry! Iam always worried about Hawks - people laugh at me when I say it but I don't care. I have a 4 pound boy and a 3 pound girl and I am not going to risk it! Thanks for the scare - I think we could all use it! |
Kiwi, I forgot about your x-pen question. Some yorkies seem to manage to climb out of anything and over baby gates, too. Some don't. I've seen it mentioned before that if you have a climber to be sure and put pillows around the edge on the floor so they can't hurt themselves. Also, you can buy tops for some x-pens. Hope this helps. |
A friend on another site had her yorkie snatched less than 20 feet away from her - she was and still is - devestated about it |
So I guess it is just whether or not you have a climber. Riley climbed everything. At a pound and a half he could get up the side of a kitchen chair to get over 4 ft of plywood which is what we tried that after he climbed the gates. Thanks for the hawk info too. |
That is so scarey and sad. :( There is always hawks flying around the park I take Rocco and Rosie(aka Sissy) to and I watch them really carefully. |
Hawks Owls are another threat. If you use a pen outside you have to put a screen or something on top to prevent the birds from getting in. I personally wouldn't leave a dog as small as a Yorkie unattended in the backyard. |
There are red-tailed hawks where I am and although I doubt they could carry off Trixie or Cody, I don't think they'd have a probelm at all with little Kasey and probably Abby too. Either way, that didn't stop one from coming ONTO the screened in poarch after them. Even if they couldn't carry them away, those talons can do some major damage.:( I've seen them come down and get rabbits w/out a problem, I seriously doubt there is THAT much difference weight wise between our dogs and rabbits. |
I had a friend that lost two small dogs to an owl one evening. That was many years ago. I found this, too: Birds that eat small dogs Have hawks been known to pick up small dogs? I have a 14-pound pet dog, and hawks circle near our home. Should I be worried? -- Angela Fuson, Frisco, Texas Large hawks prey on small mammals. The Red-tailed Hawk feeds on rodents and rabbits but also catches larger animals, including pheasants, hares, and jackrabbits. Likewise, Ferruginous and Harris's Hawks chase rabbits, rodents, and ground squirrels. Swainson's Hawks eat mice and large insects. Of the prey items I've mentioned, jackrabbits are the heaviest. They weigh no more than 10 pounds, less than your pet. Since a small dog could look about the same size as a hawk's usual prey, however, it's possible that a hungry raptor might at least attempt to capture the dog, injuring it in the process. Be more cautious, though, about leaving your dog outdoors at night. Great Horned Owls are powerful hunters that eat a wide variety of prey, including raccoons, porcupines, and house cats - all of which can weigh as much as your pet. Recently in Great Britain, a Eurasian Eagle-Owl made headlines when it repeatedly attacked at least five dogs. The owner of one of the dogs, a miniature wire-haired dachshund, said, "It is very frightening for Heidi to have this giant bird trying to eat her all the time. I have no doubt that it wants to make her into its next meal. I guess Heidi looks like a rabbit or a tasty snack." A falconer captured the bird, which was believed to have escaped from an aviary. http://www.birdersworld.com/brd/default.aspx?c=a&id=662 |
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about the climber i just got this really nice pen that you can buy detachable tops and bottoms that you can order in different heights so there is no yorkie that can get out and nothing can get in. i got it from petedge.com i get everything from there |
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