This Duchess is a tough lady when coyote attacks

The next time John McMahon lets his three dogs out for a bathroom break, the Carpentersville resident says, the dogs will be on leashes and he'll be wearing shoes.

It was pitch black early Tuesday morning when McMahon heard his 5-month-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, Duchess, barking, and then silence.

McMahon said the 7-pound puppy was snatched by a coyote about 4:30 a.m. from the backyard of his family's home near Huntley and Sleepy Hollow roads in the Providence Point subdivision.

Duchess, who was outside with her brother Rex and a 6-year-old beagle, Cheeto, suffered puncture wounds to her chest, ear and above her eye.

"I had heard coyotes before and seen them on the street," McMahon said Wednesday afternoon at the Dundee Animal Hospital, where Duchess was treated after the attack. "But I never thought this would happen."

McMahon said when he realized what had happened, he ran across his snow-covered backyard -- without socks or shoes -- to a wooded area behind his property.

"I had to run back inside and put some shoes on," McMahon said. "I thought I had lost her and all I could think about was, 'What am I going to tell the kids and wife?' "

In the dark, McMahon found the puppy about 100 yards from the house, still and bleeding.

"She was so lethargic," McMahon said. "Then she blinked her eye and I said, 'Thank God she is alive.' I thought she was dead and had almost given up on finding her."

The coyote did not get away unscathed, said his wife, Mary.

"She lost a baby tooth," McMahon's wife said. "So she must have fought back."

The McMahon children, Jack, 4, and Peyton, 7, were relieved Duchess, who did not require stitches, made it through the ordeal.

"She is a very lucky puppy," Jack said.

Dundee Animal Hospital vet technician Bianca Cox agreed.

"It could have been a much worse situation, especially because of her size and she is only 5 months old," Cox said. "The coyote did puncture the skin near the lung, so there was the potential to be worse."

Cox said another dog also is hospitalized after wandering off into a wooded area and returning with lacerations.

In January, a 13-pound Shih Tzu named Bailey was mauled to death by four coyotes in a Long Grove backyard.

A coyote in June tried to take a 13-pound Pomeranian from a yard in Carol Stream.

Last year, 542 coyotes were removed throughout Illinois by licensed trappers. Of that number, 295 were from the Chicago area, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

How to avoid coyotes

State officials offer these tips to prevent coyotes from becoming a nuisance:

• Don't feed them.

• Limit availability of unintentional food sources, including pet food.

• Comply with laws that require restraint/oversight of pets.

• Recognize that coyotes are a permanent fixture in suburban landscapes.

• Recognize that removing all or most of the coyotes in an area is usually unrealistic and always temporary.

• Hire someone licensed by the state when removal is deemed necessary.

Source: Illinois Department of Natural Resources