Owl attacks Crystal Lake dog

George Kalomiris’ adopted 4-pound Chihuahua, Chico, refuses to go out in the dark, and his family has tried everything to help him lose his new fear.

Early one morning last week, Kalomiris was walking Chico down the street in his Crystal Lake neighborhood when a great horned owl swooped down on the 3-year-old dog and tried to fly away with him.

“I was shaking when it happened,” Kalomiris said. “The owl came out of nowhere. It was moving fast and it dragged him across the sidewalk.”

Fortunately, Chico was wearing his jacket, which the leash was attached to.

“He wasn’t coming out of the harness, and I wasn’t letting go of the leash,” Kalomiris said. “(The owl) was facing me, and I was yelling at the top of my lungs to scare it away.”

Kalomiris ran back to his house around 1:30 a.m. and raced Chico to an emergency animal hospital to be treated for a puncture wound.

Although the wound caused from the owl’s talon has healed, Kalomiris said Chico remains traumatized.

“We try to take him out as a group with my kids and wife, but he won’t even walk outside when it’s dark now,” he said.

Kalomiris described the owl, which he had come face to face with, to veterinarians who identified it as a great horned owl.

“The vet said it must have been desperate for food, and it was extremely rare,” Kalomiris said. “He said they eat anything from a small rodent to a large rabbit.”