Puppy catches a bus to escape coyote attack

[Skunk]

This story is a little old, but it seems like a good story, especially if you are the puppy.

Puppy catches a bus to escape coyote attack
 
By Nick Lewis, Canwest News Service, found at The Vancouver Sun,

April 29, 2009


Calgary Transit shuttle driver Dawn Hagel (left) saved Duke a 16-month old Australian cattle dog
from coyotes until he was returned to his owner Hugh Magill in Calgary, Alberta on April 29, 2009.
(Photograph by: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald)

CALGARY- Just call her angel of the morning.

Spotting two prowling coyotes stalk a puppy cowering under a pickup truck on her northwest bus route on Tuesday, Calgary Transit driver Dawn Hagel did the only thing she could. The 43-year-old stopped the bus, opened its door, and let the frightened pup scamper on board, saving it from a gruesome fate.

“I see this particular pick-up truck at the bottom of the hill about three times a week, and I knew I couldn’t leave the dog because when I returned the truck would no longer be there,” Hagel said. “This puppy’s fate seemed obvious, he was breakfast for two hungry coyotes. So I opened the door to let him in and he was in in a heartbeat.”

After darting on board the bus near Greenwood Village Trailer Park at 6:30 a.m., 16-month-old Duke stayed there for two hours while Hagel finished her run. The Australian Cattle Dog had sustained a couple of bites on his hind legs and was clearly frightened, Hagel said, but the affection and concern of her passengers helped calm him down.

“The passengers on the bus were excellent,” Hagel said. “They kept trying to coerce him on, kept trying to pet him and calm him down. They were all really sweet.”

Hagel passed Duke on to Animal Services at the end of her morning shift, who shortly returned him to his anxious owner Hugh Magill.

“I thought I was just going to find remains,” Magill, 55, said. “It had been a tense morning. I had gone out for a walk with Duke and my other dog, Ranger, in an off-leash site, and a coyote, quite a bit bigger than Duke, came right down to them and taunted them. Both dogs ran after the coyote, I tried to stop them but they kept going.

“I spent two hours looking for them, but only Ranger came home, and I was worried I’d never see Duke again.”

Magill, who lives three blocks from the attack site, says he’s extremely grateful to Hagel and will no longer walk Duke through the same stretch of the woods anymore.

“I’m keeping him on a leash when I walk him now, and we’re going to find another area to go for walks in,” he said. “With the coyotes being as bold and aggressive as they are here, it’s just not a safe place for anyone walking a dog.”

Hagel has been with Calgary Transit for three years and on this particular route for just a month, and says she has never seen coyotes in the area before. But Bill Piasta, an officer with Animal and Bylaw Services, says Calgarians should be wary of any wooded areas in the city.

“Any wooded areas in this city, you have to know there’s going to be coyotes prowling,” he said. “Because they know they have no natural predators, and they know people aren’t going to shoot them.

“We know there’s a hundred some-odd coyotes in this city, and they are all over the place. They usually travel and hunt in packs, so they could take a dog down pretty quick.”

Darcy Whiteside of Alberta Fish and Wildlife says the best prevention from a coyote attack is to keep your dog on a leash and close by your side.

“This is the time of year when coyotes have litters and are looking for any sort of prey, and that includes cats and small dogs,” he said. “We have a coyote info line at 297-7789 for people can get information or report sightings. And we haven’t seen an increase in the number of calls this year.”

Duke himself is still jittery from his near-death experience, Magill says, but at least he gets to fight another day.

“I got Duke from an animal rescue in High River called Heaven Can Wait, and I think that name kind of tells this story,” he said. “Heaven can wait for Duke.”

nlewis@theherald.canwest.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Puppy+catches+escape+coyote+attack/1546767/story.html

[Austin1]

This story is a little old, but it seems like a good story, especially if you are the puppy.

Puppy catches a bus to escape coyote attack
 
By Nick Lewis, Canwest News Service, found at The Vancouver Sun,

April 29, 2009


Calgary Transit shuttle driver Dawn Hagel (left) saved Duke a 16-month old Australian cattle dog
from coyotes until he was returned to his owner Hugh Magill in Calgary, Alberta on April 29, 2009.
(Photograph by: Leah Hennel, Calgary Herald)

CALGARY- Just call her angel of the morning.

Spotting two prowling coyotes stalk a puppy cowering under a pickup truck on her northwest bus route on Tuesday, Calgary Transit driver Dawn Hagel did the only thing she could. The 43-year-old stopped the bus, opened its door, and let the frightened pup scamper on board, saving it from a gruesome fate.

“I see this particular pick-up truck at the bottom of the hill about three times a week, and I knew I couldn’t leave the dog because when I returned the truck would no longer be there,” Hagel said. “This puppy’s fate seemed obvious, he was breakfast for two hungry coyotes. So I opened the door to let him in and he was in in a heartbeat.”

After darting on board the bus near Greenwood Village Trailer Park at 6:30 a.m., 16-month-old Duke stayed there for two hours while Hagel finished her run. The Australian Cattle Dog had sustained a couple of bites on his hind legs and was clearly frightened, Hagel said, but the affection and concern of her passengers helped calm him down.

“The passengers on the bus were excellent,” Hagel said. “They kept trying to coerce him on, kept trying to pet him and calm him down. They were all really sweet.”

Hagel passed Duke on to Animal Services at the end of her morning shift, who shortly returned him to his anxious owner Hugh Magill.

“I thought I was just going to find remains,” Magill, 55, said. “It had been a tense morning. I had gone out for a walk with Duke and my other dog, Ranger, in an off-leash site, and a coyote, quite a bit bigger than Duke, came right down to them and taunted them. Both dogs ran after the coyote, I tried to stop them but they kept going.

“I spent two hours looking for them, but only Ranger came home, and I was worried I’d never see Duke again.”

Magill, who lives three blocks from the attack site, says he’s extremely grateful to Hagel and will no longer walk Duke through the same stretch of the woods anymore.

“I’m keeping him on a leash when I walk him now, and we’re going to find another area to go for walks in,” he said. “With the coyotes being as bold and aggressive as they are here, it’s just not a safe place for anyone walking a dog.”

Hagel has been with Calgary Transit for three years and on this particular route for just a month, and says she has never seen coyotes in the area before. But Bill Piasta, an officer with Animal and Bylaw Services, says Calgarians should be wary of any wooded areas in the city.

“Any wooded areas in this city, you have to know there’s going to be coyotes prowling,” he said. “Because they know they have no natural predators, and they know people aren’t going to shoot them.

“We know there’s a hundred some-odd coyotes in this city, and they are all over the place. They usually travel and hunt in packs, so they could take a dog down pretty quick.”

Darcy Whiteside of Alberta Fish and Wildlife says the best prevention from a coyote attack is to keep your dog on a leash and close by your side.

“This is the time of year when coyotes have litters and are looking for any sort of prey, and that includes cats and small dogs,” he said. “We have a coyote info line at 297-7789 for people can get information or report sightings. And we haven’t seen an increase in the number of calls this year.”

Duke himself is still jittery from his near-death experience, Magill says, but at least he gets to fight another day.

“I got Duke from an animal rescue in High River called Heaven Can Wait, and I think that name kind of tells this story,” he said. “Heaven can wait for Duke.”

nlewis@theherald.canwest.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/Technology/Puppy+catches+escape+coyote+attack/1546767/story.html

This is a old story but the yote's up here are bad! I read a story in the paper when the yote's took a small toy dog right off it's leash in front of the owner in the City. My hound hates yote's but I don't think he would do well against more than one but he has dad to protect him and the yote's sence that they will just be a hide on the wall so they always run away.