wildflower
02-20-2010, 12:17 PM
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=SR&Date=20100219&Category=ARTICLES&ArtNo=100219315&Ref=AR&Profile=1350&MaxW=600&border=0 (https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100219/ARTICLES/100219315/1350?p=2&tc=pg#) CHRISTOPHER CHUNG / THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Odessa Gunn placed signs around her rural Santa Rosa neighborhood after her chihuahua Trooper was snatched by an owl on Tuesday night.
<!-- /MAIN PHOTO --> <!-- BYLINE --> "officials are warning people with pets weighing up to 15 pounds to be mindful of attacks from the sky and to take precautions to prevent them."
........."outdoor cats should also be brought indoors at night for their protection."
<small><small>By DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
</small></small>
<!-- /BYLINE --> <!-- PUBDATE --> <small><small> Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:35 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:35 p.m. </small></small>
( page 1 of 3 )
<!-- /PUBDATE --> Odessa Gunn had no inkling when she opened the door to her rural Santa Rosa home Tuesday night that a predator was waiting overhead for the right moment to strike.
<script language="JavaScript"> var enableForum = "false"; </script> <!--
AC = 1234
--> <!-- GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--> <style type="text/css" media="screen"> #forumnumcom h6 {width:250px;float:left;margin:18px 10px 0 0;padding:10px 0 15px;border-bottom:none;border-top:9px solid #888}</style><style>.art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; } </style> <!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--> You live in the country, as Gunn and her famous cyclist husband do, and you expect threats from mountain lions, coyotes and similar natural-born killers.
But from the sky? In your own backyard? Gunn was still having trouble processing it all three days after the fact.
“It was so fast. There was no warning,” she said Friday from the home off Riebli Road she shares with Levi Leipheimer, the American cycling great who is racing in Portugal this week.
Gunn was at home with a friend Tuesday when she opened the door to the backyard at about 9:30 p.m. so that the couple's four Chihuahuas could go out for their final potty break of the night.
But before Gunn could get her boots on to follow the dogs out, a “crazy weird sound” Gunn likened to cats fighting sent her rushing outside.
She saw Bandit first, wobbling on his paws and bleeding from deep puncture wounds in his back. She rounded up Smokey and Coyote, and went looking for Trooper after she heard the dog bark.
By the time she arrived at the spot, Trooper was gone.
“No trace, nothing,” Gunn said.
A short while later, while continuing to search for the missing dog, Gunn said she heard owls hooting overhead. That's when the horror of what happened suddenly hit her.
The screech like cats brawling, Bandit's puncture wounds, the swiftness with which Trooper vanished: it all added up to an owl or owls swooping down from the nighttime sky for the attack.
Officials at the Sonoma Humane Society believe the bird in question was a Great Horned Owl, a stealthy predator that weighs about 4 pounds fully grown but can fly off with prey three times its size after attacking with a potent combination of surprise and razor-sharp talons.
Given that this is nesting season for the owls, officials are warning people with pets weighing up to 15 pounds to be mindful of attacks from the sky and to take precautions to prevent them.
While such attacks on domestic cats and dogs are believed to be rare, it's difficult to say for sure how often it actually happens given the mysterious nature of how owls hunt.
“You don't know it's happened because all of a sudden, your animal is missing and you think maybe it got out or something. But this happens more often than we think,” said Angie Bonnert, a Humane Society spokeswoman.
Great Horned Owls typically prefer rodents, bats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, rabbits and even porcupines.
But as Gunn can attest, small dogs and cats are targets, too. She believes an owl may be responsible for the recent disappearance of her and a neighbor's cats.
An avowed animal lover, Gunn said she doesn't begrudge the owls for doing what comes to them naturally. But she hopes publicity about the attack on her dogs will encourage other pet owners to take prudent steps to thwart a similar fate.
“I don't want people hating wildlife, but I want them to take precautions,” she said.
She said the Chihuahuas, which all had been rescued from shelters, are like children to her, hence the despondency she feels over losing Trooper, who was about six.
Bandit is recovering in the meantime after a veterinarian used staples to close the puncture wounds in the dog's back.
Bonnert said it's common for owls to return to the same spot once they find a food source.
For people who have small pets, she recommended keeping the animals nearby or on a leash while outside this time of year, particularly at dusk when owls are most active.
She said outdoor cats should also be brought indoors at night for their protection.
Gunn said she's taken that advice to heart, keeping her dogs on a leash when she lets them out at night.
Despite the signs pointing to a sad ending for Trooper, Gunn said a part of her still holds out hope that somehow he escaped harm and will be found.
“If anyone has seen any trace of him we would love to know. The unknown is horrible,” she said.
<!-- /PUBDATE -->
Odessa Gunn placed signs around her rural Santa Rosa neighborhood after her chihuahua Trooper was snatched by an owl on Tuesday night.
<!-- /MAIN PHOTO --> <!-- BYLINE --> "officials are warning people with pets weighing up to 15 pounds to be mindful of attacks from the sky and to take precautions to prevent them."
........."outdoor cats should also be brought indoors at night for their protection."
<small><small>By DEREK MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
</small></small>
<!-- /BYLINE --> <!-- PUBDATE --> <small><small> Published: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:35 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 19, 2010 at 6:35 p.m. </small></small>
( page 1 of 3 )
<!-- /PUBDATE --> Odessa Gunn had no inkling when she opened the door to her rural Santa Rosa home Tuesday night that a predator was waiting overhead for the right moment to strike.
<script language="JavaScript"> var enableForum = "false"; </script> <!--
AC = 1234
--> <!-- GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--> <style type="text/css" media="screen"> #forumnumcom h6 {width:250px;float:left;margin:18px 10px 0 0;padding:10px 0 15px;border-bottom:none;border-top:9px solid #888}</style><style>.art_main_pic { width:250px; float:left; clear:left; } </style> <!-- /GRAY BOX ARTICLE CONTENT--> You live in the country, as Gunn and her famous cyclist husband do, and you expect threats from mountain lions, coyotes and similar natural-born killers.
But from the sky? In your own backyard? Gunn was still having trouble processing it all three days after the fact.
“It was so fast. There was no warning,” she said Friday from the home off Riebli Road she shares with Levi Leipheimer, the American cycling great who is racing in Portugal this week.
Gunn was at home with a friend Tuesday when she opened the door to the backyard at about 9:30 p.m. so that the couple's four Chihuahuas could go out for their final potty break of the night.
But before Gunn could get her boots on to follow the dogs out, a “crazy weird sound” Gunn likened to cats fighting sent her rushing outside.
She saw Bandit first, wobbling on his paws and bleeding from deep puncture wounds in his back. She rounded up Smokey and Coyote, and went looking for Trooper after she heard the dog bark.
By the time she arrived at the spot, Trooper was gone.
“No trace, nothing,” Gunn said.
A short while later, while continuing to search for the missing dog, Gunn said she heard owls hooting overhead. That's when the horror of what happened suddenly hit her.
The screech like cats brawling, Bandit's puncture wounds, the swiftness with which Trooper vanished: it all added up to an owl or owls swooping down from the nighttime sky for the attack.
Officials at the Sonoma Humane Society believe the bird in question was a Great Horned Owl, a stealthy predator that weighs about 4 pounds fully grown but can fly off with prey three times its size after attacking with a potent combination of surprise and razor-sharp talons.
Given that this is nesting season for the owls, officials are warning people with pets weighing up to 15 pounds to be mindful of attacks from the sky and to take precautions to prevent them.
While such attacks on domestic cats and dogs are believed to be rare, it's difficult to say for sure how often it actually happens given the mysterious nature of how owls hunt.
“You don't know it's happened because all of a sudden, your animal is missing and you think maybe it got out or something. But this happens more often than we think,” said Angie Bonnert, a Humane Society spokeswoman.
Great Horned Owls typically prefer rodents, bats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, rabbits and even porcupines.
But as Gunn can attest, small dogs and cats are targets, too. She believes an owl may be responsible for the recent disappearance of her and a neighbor's cats.
An avowed animal lover, Gunn said she doesn't begrudge the owls for doing what comes to them naturally. But she hopes publicity about the attack on her dogs will encourage other pet owners to take prudent steps to thwart a similar fate.
“I don't want people hating wildlife, but I want them to take precautions,” she said.
She said the Chihuahuas, which all had been rescued from shelters, are like children to her, hence the despondency she feels over losing Trooper, who was about six.
Bandit is recovering in the meantime after a veterinarian used staples to close the puncture wounds in the dog's back.
Bonnert said it's common for owls to return to the same spot once they find a food source.
For people who have small pets, she recommended keeping the animals nearby or on a leash while outside this time of year, particularly at dusk when owls are most active.
She said outdoor cats should also be brought indoors at night for their protection.
Gunn said she's taken that advice to heart, keeping her dogs on a leash when she lets them out at night.
Despite the signs pointing to a sad ending for Trooper, Gunn said a part of her still holds out hope that somehow he escaped harm and will be found.
“If anyone has seen any trace of him we would love to know. The unknown is horrible,” she said.
<!-- /PUBDATE -->