Protect your pets from prairie predators

I had the unenviable task this past week of informing a pet owner that her beloved dog had been killed by coyotes or some other large animal.

Not that I wanted the job.

In this case, the job found me.

A local dog owner, who preferred her name not be used in The View, came into the office this past Friday reporting a dog carcass in an easment in Pueblo West. The woman had been out walking her dog when she made the discovery and promptly drove to The View office to report her find.

She wanted us to run a photo of the dead animal in The View to serve as a reminder for pet owners that it's dangerous to leave their pets out unsupervised, especially at night.

Well, I went out and snapped the photo, which I've decided not to run. But in doing so, we discovered that the tag was still on the carcass. The tag had a vet listed on it.

So, I took the tag to the vet and the late pet's owner had confirmed what she had feared. This wasn't a case of owner neglect. The little pooch got away one night while the owner was helping her daughter move. They looked for the animal for three hours without success. That was three weeks ago.

Since then, there had been no sign of the little animal, and the owner had feared the worst.

Even so, this provides a cautionary tale for local pet owners. We live in the country. There are wild animals, some of whom consider our pets very desireable meals. It is dangerous to leave your pets outside. In most cases, they are simply no match for the wild animals they may encounter, be it a coyote, an owl, a hawk or a snake.

Mike Spence is editor of The View. He can be reached by e-mail at mspence@pueblowestview.com. 

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