Andrea Rosebrock 
One little Winston-Salem dog is lucky to be alive after being picked up and carried off by what is believed to have been a large predatory bird for dinner.
Kelly Anderson let the little Pomeranian she was dog-sitting outside with several large dogs but when she went back a little bit later, Anya, the Pom, was missing.
“Thinking that there was safety in numbers, I went inside to make a pot of coffee and came back out and Anya was missing,” Emerson said.
She searched and did find the little dog… in a neighbor’s driveway. Anya was alive but quite a bit worse for the trip. One of her legs was completely broken in half and required amputation.
“How do you explain to somebody that (their animal has) been lifted off by a predatory bird?” she said. “It doesn’t sound real. It’s just such a freak thing.”
These have been more and more stories about small dogs being carried off as prey for predatory birds, foxes and coyotes lately because the wild food supply is low.
“This year we’ve heard more coyote stories than ever before,” Dr. Mitchell Spindel, a veterinarian at Animal Ark said.
“I feel extremely paranoid now,” she said. “I know there’s not safety in numbers. And so we have to come out with our animals and make sure that the coyotes aren’t around and the birds don’t swoop down and get them.”
Little Anya was one of the lucky ones and even with three legs, she can live a good long and healthy life.
This is something that people with smaller pets need to be aware of if they live in rural or even semi-rural areas where there is a potential for these types of predators to be roaming. Your beloved little pet may be a family member to you but to these hungry predators, a small dog or cat is a meal.
I live in fairly heavily populated neighborhood. Out neighbor let his very small dog outside; he was outside with the dog. Lucky for him and the dog, my husband and I and another neighbor were also out. The other neighbor saw the large bird swoop down the first time, but the bird missed the dog. The neighbor yelled to us and we were able to scare the bird off on the second swoop while the owner grabbed the dog. You need to be careful not only in rural and semi-rural neighborhoods, but everywhere.
WOW THIS IS ONE LUCKY DOG. WHO WOULD BELIEVE A BIRD WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
I never leave my little Chi outside alone even if another 1 of dog is out with her I have often thouht about somethin like happenin myself as I’ve heard of other ones havin the same problems … I live in north…
Very true, Glenda, things like this take place not only in rural or semi-rural areas although they do tend to predominate there more than in city areas but predators are everywhere and people need to take care and be aware of dangers to their pet companions.