Hawks and Dogs (and Cats)

Hawks and Dogs (and Cats)

Hawks and Dogs (and Cats)

In a memorable scene from the 2009 Sandra Bullock film The Proposal, an eagle attempts to carry off a Kevin, a small American Eskimo Dog while an astonished Sandra Bullock looks on (watch the scene online here [link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TENG4cgxl4]). This scenario sends chills through the hearts of small dog owners, who may become nervous when they notice large hawks hanging out in their neighborhood.

First the good news. In general, a hawk or even an eagle will not attack an animal as large as even a small dog unless there is nothing else for it to eat, and even then it would be very unusual. Episodes like that depicted in The Proposal are actually so rare as to be almost unheard of, and are deemed by Snopes [link to http://www.snopes.com/critters/mishaps/dognap.asp] to reside mostly in the realm of urban legend.

Bald Eagles do not usually hunt for mammals, and Golden Eagles which regularly do hunt mammals live in mostly rural areas of the western states and avoid residential areas. Red-tailed Hawks are the most common large hawk across most of North America, and they are frequently found in residential neighborhoods with large open areas. While Red-tailed Hawks may look big, they only weigh an average of 2.3 (males) to 2.7 (females) pounds. The good news is that hawks usually only hunt for animals that weigh less than they dowhich are usually small mammals (squirrel sized or smaller) and birds. In a comprehensive review of Red-tailed Hawk food habits, by far the largest food animal reported was a 4.4 pound jackrabbit. These hawks usually do not carry away their larger prey, but kill and eat them on the ground. But since hawks rarely attack anything that weighs more than they do, most dogs (and large cats) will be safe from being attacked by a hawk, let alone carried off through the air.

This is a fortunate, since there isn't a lot you can do to make a hawk go away. Hawks don't have many natural predators, so not much will scare them off. However, they are usually wary around people, so if you still aren't convinced your dog is safe, the best thing to do is to accompany your small dog outside when needed. Your presence will make any hawk more wary, and in the extremely rare event that a starving hawk did consider swooping down on your dog, you would be there to scare it away.

If you have hawks in your yard or neighborhood, it may be possible to discourage them by limiting the number of places where they can hang out. In open areas, Red-tailed Hawks like to hunt from a high exposed perch from which they can swoop down on their prey. Eliminating tall poles or trees where hawks can sit may make your yard a less hospitable hunting ground. Alternately, since hawks like to hunt in the open, if you replace more of your lawn with shrubs and shade trees, hawks will likely move on to more open hunting grounds. Remember, since hawks mostly eat rodents and other nuisance animals, if you can learn to live with the hawk it will probably be doing you a favor by keeping the rodent population in check.

So if you care concerned about your dog, accompany it in the yard when it has to be outside. But don't obsess about it, as hawks are not usually a serious threat in most circumstances.

POST COMMENT

Do you really need some Webkinz info on Webkinz Pet from the month Points to Think about During Dog Adoption How To Overcome Separation Anxiety In Your Puppy Big Dogs for Big Boys – The Weight Factor About the Turkish Angora Cat Breed Kindnes To Animals What You Should Feed For Your Puppy Temptations Cat Treats Make Nutritional Sense What Is Biodegradable PET Plastic? Old English Dog Breed Profile Information High Quality Large Bird Cages for Your Pet Bird's Convenience A Bird's Eye View of Disney World Trainpetdog.com's recommendation of dog breeds