OCALA, Fla.
— A family in The Villages community just outside Ocala, Florida, is distraught after their dog was attacked and taken from them by a coyote in the middle of a residential neighborhood.
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Witnesses said the dog, Bailey, was in the yard with her owner when a coyote came out of the bushes across the street, grabbed the dog and ran off.
“That shouldn’t happen to anybody’s animal,” neighbor Cindy Evans said. “That little dog was so precious. It was kind of like, the neighborhood mascot, and everyone loved it.”
The owner’s other dog, Pita, was a few feet away but wasn’t harmed.
“I ran outside immediately, thinking that the dog was just injured. When I got outside, unfortunately, I learned it had been carried away,” Evans said.
Bailey’s owners were too distraught to talk about what happened, but wanted to get their story out to warn other pet owners about the threat of coyotes so they can take precautions.
Neighbors said Bailey was 3 years old and weighed around 14 pounds.
“She was part Boston terrier and Chihuahua, and she was a decent-size animal. I can't imagine an animal being large enough to carry off a pet that size that quickly. So it had to be something strong and sizeable,” Evans said.
Neighbors said there have been other coyote encounters on the same street.
Now, the community is taking extra precautions
“We’re going out with sticks and flashlights, sirens or whistles or anything to try and scare them off,” neighbor Audrey White said.
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