Was Paris Hilton’s chihuahua snatched by a hungry coyote?

IT WAS the £10,000-a-day ‘biggest dog hunt in Hollywood history’ launched by a heartbroken Paris Hilton to find her beloved chihuahua Diamond Baby.

But last night it seemed the 18-day search for the hotel heiress’s pooch has ended in tragedy – with experts now believing it was snatched by a hungry coyote.

A source closely involved in the hunt, which started on September 14 when Ms Hilton was away from her £8million Hollywood Hills home and a workman is believed to have left a side door open, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s not looking good. It’s been a massive hunt with global publicity, but we’ve not had a single sighting. Usually in a case like this there are multiple sightings if a dog is roaming loose.

‘If Diamond Baby had been dognapped, we would have expected a ransom demand by now. But there have been no calls.

‘It’s very sad but Paris is coming to the conclusion she may never see Diamond Baby again. She is heartbroken.’

The hotel heiress, 41, pictured with Diamond Baby, launched her dramatic appeal to find the six-year-old chihuahua, which she described as ‘like a daughter to me’, with a social media blitz last week.

She also hired a firm operating heat-seeking drones and an army of pet detectives, psychics and professional dog trackers to scour the land around her Mulholland Estates mansion.

But the source told the MoS: ‘From the beginning the fear has always been that, because of the terrain, Diamond Baby may have fallen victim to wild coyotes. There has been a record heatwave in LA and coyotes are coming into residential neighbourhoods looking for food and water. They are starving.’ Ms Hilton is said to have ‘not given up hope’ for her Baby, which lives in a £280,000 ‘doggie mansion’ and wears a £35,000 diamondencrusted collar.

‘She’s heartbroken but will never give up on Diamond Baby,’ a family friend said.