Dog attacked by coyote in Transcona backyard, owner says

Piper the dog was out for a pee near the ditch in his Transcona backyard this week when he turned tail and bolted back to the house, then ran straight back out to the ditch.

"I didn't even have time to close the patio door behind her," said Vicki Last, Piper's owner. "She ran out like a bat out of hell. Obviously she must've smelled something."

Last then watched as a coyote emerged and attacked Piper, she said.

Last had let the dog out for a pee before bedtime Tuesday night near their home at Ravelston Avenue W. and Almey Avenue, just east of Lagimodiere Boulevard.

"There were two of them," Last said about the attack, "and one of them bit her on the side of the leg and she yelped and came running back inside the house right away."

The animal that bit Piper was "off-looking," she said — it had a thick, bushy tail and didn't seem very healthy. Both animals were smaller than Piper.

Last said she thinks some combination of curiosity and an urge to scare the coyotes away led Piper back out to the ditch the second time.

Piper is on the bigger side, so despite having heard of recent coyote sightings in the neighbourhood — including rumours of a small dog being killed recently — Last said she wasn't terribly concerned.

She reported the incident and a conservation biologist told her that as Winnipeg neighbourhoods continue to expand, the likelihood of coyote encounters also increases, Last said. 

There were a handful of reports of coyote sightings last fall in Kilcona Park, about five kilometres from Last's home.

The City of Winnipeg received reports of more sightings in the park earlier this month.

Last said there are other, indirect, signs of coyotes in her neighbourhood.

Last winter she routinely saw a dozen or so deer in her yard every night.

"This year I've only seen two," she said, adding the official told her coyotes occasionally hunt deer.

"I know it's not common for them to attack people, but … there's tons of people with their dogs walking around and I just feel like this is not going to end."

A non-lethal trap for the coyote was supposed to be placed on her property on Thursday, Last said.

"I'm very grateful for that, and I'm even more grateful my Piper is OK."