Keep hawk-eyed on your pets

A flying monkey got Toto, but chances are your small pet is safe from hawks. News and social media reports about hawks swooping down and carrying away small pets have alarmed pet owners in recent weeks. But chances are, your pet is safe, a local wildlife specialist says. One news account reported that a hawk in the Toledo area attacked a dog weighing about 12 pounds, but did not carry it away, said Meredith Gilbert, wildlife communications specialist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Gilbert did not dismiss it as impossible that a hawk would carry away a dog, but she said it is quite unlikely. "The likelihood of that is pretty low. I don't think that's a pet owner's main concern. I think probably your dog running out in traffic is much more of a concern than getting scooped up by a hawk," she said. "But if you have a small dog, that is definitely a possibility." How small would the dog, or cat, have to be? "I would say if you have a small puppy, like a Chihuahua-size dog (which weighs about 6 pounds)," Gilbert said. "I can't think that a hawk — maybe an eagle — would be able to pick up 12 pounds." Hawks seek other fare for lunch. "Most of our hawks, like our red-tail, or definitely our Cooper's hawk, that would frequent backyards, they're looking more for small prey. Cooper's hawks look for birds, primarily. They're an avian predator," she said. "Red-tail hawks and red-shouldered hawks, they're really looking for much smaller prey: mice, moles, sometimes they might take up a rabbit (weighing in at 5 pounds), and that would probably be on the upper size of the limit." For those who do have a small pet they are concerned about, there's a simple solution: accompanying your pet while it is outside will keep it safe. "Keep it close to you if you are concerned and you see a hawk in the area. A hawk's not going to swoop down 5 feet in front of a human," Gilbert said. "They're afraid of us." If you are at a park or wildlife area, keep your small pet on a short leash. The animal kingdom poses other risks for pets. But again, they are comparatively smaller risks statistically. Eagles are in all 88 Ohio counties, including Hancock. They tend to seek fish for their food, so eagles tend to concentrate near rivers and lakes. But they are scavengers, so they will eat just about anything they can find, including roadkill, Gilbert said. It is possible an eagle would pick up a small pet, but it is not probable, she said. On rare occasions, dogs locally get attacked by a coyote. "Coyotes, depending sort of on the circumstance, can be a predator. They hunt small animals, so they hunt things like squirrels and rabbits and moles and mice and basically anything that they can find," Gilbert said. "So they don't understand that a pet is a pet. They just see it as a food source. We get calls about that every year, about that happening. But again, it's pretty rare. "Any call like that is upsetting and sad, and I know it's devastating for the pet owner, but luckily we get only a couple of those through a season," Gilbert said.