Jackson Hole Daily, Mike Koshmrl– Two miniature schnauzers ended up on the bad side of a scuffle with a group of coyotes Thursday near the West Bank’s John Dodge neighborhood.
One of Darrell and Melody Martin’s pets was found severely maimed near a home they look after, and another was killed.
The two dogs took off on a paved path along a small lake in the neighborhood, chasing after what Melody Martin thought were geese.
“I put another dog in the house and came back hollering at them to come back,” she said. “It wasn’t 100 yards up the path I found my first dog with three coyotes standing over it, and I thought he was dead.”
The dog, Jack, ended up surviving and is now in the care of the Spring Creek Animal Hospital.
Later when Darrell Martin went looking for their other dog, Bailey, he discovered her a half-mile away on the ground, still breathing with a coyote nearby. She later died on the way to the veterinarian.
Miniature schnauzers are a compact breed that range from about 12 to 20 pounds — considerably smaller than a coyote.
The Martins have observed coyotes in the neighborhood for a while but never had a negative interaction. Usually the coyotes watch their dogs from afar, Darrell Martin said.
A den, he said, is located in the yard of a next door neighbor who seldom occupies the vacation home.
“We’ve been seeing the coyotes now for the past year,” he said, “because a mother moved in there last winter and had puppies and they were kind of adorable and cuddly and cute and all that. But now they are not so cuddly.”