Chihuahua ‘nearly snatched’ by bird of prey from garden

‘The bird was able to pick Emma up and because it couldn’t get away from my husband it pinned her against the garden fence,’ owner says

A bird of prey tried to snatch a pet Chihuahua from a family’s garden, its owner has said.

Sheila Gillanders rushed her dog to the vet after she was attacked in Stoneywood, Aberdeen, Scottish daily newspaper The Press and Journal reported.

She said Emma, the one-and-a-half year old Chiahuahua, was left with bruises where the large bird had grabbed it with its talons.

“The bird came down and grabbed the Chihuahua, but my husband managed to lift the bird off and rescue Emma,” Ms Gillanders told the paper.

“We got her checked out at the vet and she’s fine, but it was very scary.”

She said the bird was wearing a bell and had a leather strap, suggesting it may have been being trained.

“We see birds like this quite often. This one obviously had an owner but there are wild birds of prey too,” she said.

Ms Gillanders told the Evening Express: “It was a big bird, it was about the size of a buzzard and it was still there when I went outside and it was sitting on our garden furniture.

“We weren’t able to grab a picture of it because we were both in shock at the time.

“It had actually killed a nearby crow as well.

“The bird was able to pick Emma up and because it couldn’t get away from my husband it pinned her against the garden fence.”

It is not the first time a dog has been attacked by a bird.

A seagull snatched a four-year-old miniature Chihuahua from a garden in Devon earlier this year.

In 2015, a Yorkshire terrier was pecked to death in St Columb Minor, Cornwall, by herring gulls believed to have been protecting their nest.

Experts have warned bird attacks on people are becoming more common.