A weekend attack by a coyote against a Roswell family's dog has left the pet with multiple gash wounds and its owner calling on authorities to trap the intruders, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Joe Feinberg said he and his wife were watching TV Saturday night when they heard a commotion in the back yard of their Shadowbrook Drive home in the subdivision of that name.
“I knew there were coyotes in the area and rushed to go outside,” Feinberg told Channel 2.
There, he found his dog, Abby, seriously injured. The 40-pound, 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix sustained three deep gashes -- under her rib cage, on her right hip and on her rear.
The veterinary bill, Feinberg told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, came to more than $600 for stitches and to put in tubes to let fluids drain to prevent infections or other problems. Abby is now wearing a plastic cone around her neck to keep her from biting the stitches.
"Everyone, including the veterinarian, says she's lucky to be alive," Feinberg told the AJC in a phone interview. "My guess is the coyotes were hunting, and she was at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Past coyote run-ins reportedly had the animals attacking small dogs, chickens or small livestock like goats, but Abby is about the same size as a coyote, Feinberg said. He theorizes Abby was attacked by a group of coyotes.
"If that's the case, Georgia [officials] need to be much more worried than they are" about the animals, Feinberg said.
Feinberg said he now fears not only for his pet but for his daughter, Leah.
"I don't feel safe letting my 3-year-old daughter out at night," he said. "What if there was a coyote in the back yard? That never occurred to me until this incident."
He said he had opposed trapping coyotes before, but the weekend attack changed his mind.
"I never even saw or heard them when I moved to Roswell six years ago," Feinberg said. "Now I hear them almost every week, and some weeks, almost every night."
The Roswell incident was the latest confrontation between humans and coyotes. The animal’s population in metro Atlanta reportedly is growing, and so are reports of pet attacks and other unfriendly encounters with humans.
Last fall in Sandy Springs, the Huntcliff Homeowners Association board voted to hire trappers to capture and kill the animals.
This winter, a coyote family on nearby private land prompted city officials to close Emma Millican Park on Atlanta’s southwest side. Joyce Shepherd, a member of the Atlanta City Council, told Channel 2 that coyotes had become more aggressive, even eating a neighbor's chickens and a goat.
How to deal with the animals also has been debated in the Druid Hills area and Decatur. Decatur city officials have urged coexistence with the creatures, as trapping or killing them is ineffective; other coyotes will just move in to replace those that were removed, they say.
State law requires trappers to kill what they catch, or sell them to fox-hunting clubs.
According to a coyote facts website of the Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, coyotes have expanded their range throughout North America. They've found that with garbage, rodents and other meals easily available, Georgia is a hospitable place.
Resembling a small dog in appearance, coyotes have keen eyesight and an acute sense of smell. They communicate through high-pitched cries, shrieks or yips that can be heard late in the evening. Breeding usually occurs in the late winter to early spring, with five to seven pups born in excavated dens or brush piles.
The state DNR and Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort (AWARE) urge residents to reduce unwanted coyote encounters by keeping an eye on their pets, not letting them wander, install fencing to protect them and not leaving pet food bowls outdoors.
Livestock or poultry should be kept in an enclosed or sheltered area, and garbage cans should have lock tops and be attached to the house or fence or kept in an enclosure.
-- AJC staff writer Mark Davis contributed to this article.
About the Author
