![]() On dozens of occasions, my search dogs have confirmed the same scenario with coyote attacks: they were silent and sudden, usually in the pet’s yard, often within fifty feet of a person. There was no doubt that a predator had killed a pet there, and the presence of Cookie’s vest confirmed that it had to be her. ![]() There she found Cookie’s vest, stained with blood, and a few internal organs. Kelsy started on the scent trail at the point Cookie was last seen, and she followed the scent for about 150 feet, around the house, into the greenbelt behind the houses, and a little way southeast, behind the neighbor’s house. Then she was suddenly gone, with no noise. Cookie was last seen about 35 feet from the door. After dark one evening, Cookie went out the front door while the owner stood in the doorway waiting. She never wandered far from the front door, and she came in soon after her outdoor breaks. Cookie was older, with a few health issues. I interviewed them first, and got relevant details about the dog and the circumstances. Her owners called me to have my search dog Kelsy come out and look for Cookie. A small dog named Cookie lived in Issaquah in a neighborhood surrounded by woods. Contrary to popular opinion, raccoons are responsible for less than. 5% from others such as mountain lions, eagles, and hawks. About 7% of predator attacks on pets are by bobcats, 2.5% from owls, and. Of the deaths by predator, the large majority are coyote attacks, over 90%. I will try to describe the process without being too graphic. ![]() To properly understand the risk from predators, it may help to know how predators attack. By limiting exposure to risk, you can limit the chances your pet will fall into that 7%. It’s like playing Russian roulette with a revolver that has 10,000 chambers and 7 bullets the risk from any one pull of the trigger is almost zero, until you reach that unlucky day that the odds are 100%. But if you add up that small chance of death day after day after day, the cat is being exposed to that small risk a very large number of times. With just a 7% chance of being taken, in 17 years of living, the odds of your cat being taken by a predator on this particular day are really very small. Let’s look at the numbers this way: of 100 cats living outdoors their whole lives, probably only 7% will be killed by predators. If your cat lives outdoors most of the time, he will probably live his whole life without being taken by a predator. The odds that your cat or dog will be taken by a predator on this particular day are very small. People think they can leave pets unattended outdoors and their chances of being taken by a predator are very small. The other half of the predator problem is exposing pets to predators in the first place. Owners of missing pets mistakenly being told not to look for their lost pet, because a predator undoubtedly killed it, is horribly unfair, but that’s just half of the problem. More pets would be found if their owners weren’t discouraged from searching for them. Being taken by a predator is one of the least likely occur aces. Certainly, it is true that coyotes kill pets on occasion, but lost pets are found, alive and well, over 70% of the time, according to records I have kept. There is no basis for this persistent urban legend. Almost always, the pet owner is told by a friend, neighbor, or family member that there is no point in searching for a lost pet because he or she was definitely killed by a coyote. In almost every case of a lost cat or dog, the owner was given wrong information about predator activity. My search dogs and I have found the remains of cats and dogs killed by predators on at least 135 occasions. Since 2008, I have provided assistance or advice in the search for over 10,000 lost pets, and I have knowledge of the details of thousands of other missing pet cases. I find lost pets for a living, and I received training from Missing Pet Partnership, whose Founder, Kat Albrecht, pioneered most of the practices of lost pet rescue in use today. ![]() With a little understanding and care, you can greatly reduce your pet’s risk of being taken by a coyote or another predator. In general, people overestimate the likelihood that a predator is responsible for their pet’s disappearance, while at the same time they underestimate the threat from predators in their own yards. ![]() The myths about predators cause more harm than the predators themselves. However, most people misunderstand the dynamics of pet-predator interactions, and they usually make the wrong choices based on bad information. Predators such as coyotes, bobcats, and owls can be a serious threat to our cats and dogs. ![]()
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