Accounts of eagles stalking and even attacking dogs are not new to raptor expert Craig Webb but what shocked him was the discovery of a special vest designed to thwart birds of prey attacks.
The vest, which comes with protective spikes, had been shown to Craig by a dog lover recently.
He mentioned the vest when we caught up at the Bruny Island Bird Festival last month. By coincidence, wildlife biologist Nick Mooney days previously had sent me an article on how to avoid such attacks which had appeared in an American dog lover’s magazine.
The article in Wag outlined the threat raptors pose to both dogs and cats and issued a set of guidelines to keep pets safe.
Wag also promoted two types of dog-safety vests, one called a coyote vest because it was originally designed to counter attacks by the wild American canines.
It was the coyote vest which Craig had seen. It looks like something more appropriate to medieval conflict, with armour in the shape of long spikes and spiky plumes on the spine of its back.
The second vest, called a Raptor Shield, is specifically designed for birds of prey and carries a picture of a swooping eagle on its thick white plastic.
As Wag stated: “Predatory birds are certainly capable of killing small dogs, especially some of the smallest like chihuahuas and toy poodles. But in most cases, a raptor would have to be desperate for food to attack a dog, no matter how small.”
The magazine also gave some curious advice if the dog owner came across a marauding eagle.
“Make a noise and flap your arms to scare it away from your dog. And place balloons or beach balls decorated with large eyes around your yard.”
Craig Webb said he couldn’t believe what he was seeing at first when shown the coyote vest but he had to agree with the pet owner that care needed to be taken when letting smaller dogs run free in areas where eagles rule the skies.
The danger that eagles pose to our pooches is not new to me, either. I once wrote an On the wing column about a relative’s schnauzer being stalked by a wedge-tailed eagle on their property outside Launceston.
The story attracted a fair few “likes” when it was shared on the Mercury website, which in turn went national throughout the news.com.au website.
And shortly afterwards a couple who live along the Channel Highway not so far from Craig Webb’s Raptor and Wildlife Refuge at Kettering reported a sea-eagle eyeing their dog with evil intent.
On another on occasion, a reader in Sorell reported that he had seen a wedge-tailed eagle take a feral cat from a paddock there. The reader said that he gained some satisfaction that the “wedgie” had played its part in helping to solve Tasmania’s feral cat problem.