Only Paisley knows what happened for sure
Raptor bird expert says ‘it is not very plausible’ for a hawk to carry 10-pound dog
“I wish Paisley could talk.”
That was Laura Jenkins’ way of trying to fathom what happened when her dog was reportedly snatched from her backyard by a predatory bird, and later found walking up a driveway in Waterdown.
Jenkins and Brenda Rees say their 10-pound pomchi was grabbed by what they believe was a hawk at their Pollock Avenue home in Galt on Oct. 9 before being found an hour later, approximately 19 kilometres away, on Westover Road just outside of Flamborough.
The story caused a stir on Facebook, but an expert at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre in the Halton region said in an email to the Cambridge Times that “it is not very plausible” that a hawk carried a dog outside the city.
While the centre was unable to distinguish what type of bird it was from a photo taken by Rees, their “best guess” was a Red-tailed or Cooper’s hawk.
For Rees and Jenkins it was all too real. They have tried to piece the story together, wondering how the bird could carry Paisley that far, and how the dog came home virtually unscathed.
The strange tale unfurled when Rees was sitting in the couple’s sun porch and noticed what looked like a hawk standing in her backyard. Paisley was outside, sitting on the steps.
Rees took a couple of photos with her phone and watched as Paisley walked off the steps toward the bird.
She said the bird then started flapping its wings and, before she could react, grabbed 10-pound Paisley around the scruff of her neck and shoulder blades and flew, with the dog in its talons, over the backyard gate.
Shocked, Rees bolted into the house, grabbed her car keys and drove in the direction she believed the bird flew. With no sign of it, she went to every schoolyard and park in the area, hoping the bird had dropped Paisley or stopped near a nest. They believed the nest was likely in a two-kilometre range around their home.
A picture of Paisley posted on Facebook. Soon after, on the Ground Search and Rescue KW page, Toni-Lee Harding posted a screen shot from the Waterdown Area Lost & Found Pets page of a dog that looked like Paisley. The couple was able to arrange a meeting the next morning and they arrived to find Paisley, who immediately ran up and started licking them.
“We thought she was gone,” added Rees. Jenkins and Rees took Paisley to the veterinarian as a precaution after noticing the dog felt discomfort in her left groin when touched. They were surprised to learn Paisley was unscathed, especially since in the photo of the dog there appeared to be two spots on her fur where Rees saw the bird’s claws clamp down.
We thought she was gone. BRENDA REES DOG OWNER