A woman in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., is praising the efforts of a local business owner who fended off a vicious coyote attack on a small dog.
Filomena Pisano’s Shih Tzu was the target of a broad daylight strike by a wild coyote near John Street West and Gate Street on Sunday morning.
“He tried to bite Charlie!!! He lunged at both of them,” Pisano ranted on a Facebook post.
Paddle Niagara’s Tim Balasiuk, who was driving to his in-laws’ place to get his own dog, says he encountered the coyote tracking something prior to the attack on Gate Street.
“I sort of noticed that … it looked like it was stalking something,” Balasiuk told Global News.
“I looked down the street and of course, a young lady walking her dog and the coyote is definitely going for it.”
Balasiuk said he tried “laying on” his horn to distract the animal before turning a corner and speeding up to try to cut it off from the dog and its walker.
“I pulled into a driveway just to create some sort of a visual barrier, maybe a deterrent … no such luck.”
From that point, the incident was captured on a neighbour’s security camera video and shows Pisano’s daughter frantically try to shoo away the coyote and pull her mother’s pet out of its path.
Balasiuk would eventually stop his truck right by the point of attack, get out, and chase the coyote down the street before it disappeared.
“It just ran between houses, into somebody else’s backyard,” said Balasiuk.
Pisano’s daughter and dog Charlie would climb to safety over a railing on their home on Gate Street.
After picking up his own dog, Balasiuk checked up on the family minutes later.
“There were some neighbors, Filomena and Isabel out on the front porch. So I was able to sort of touch base, see if she was OK,” Balasiuk said. “Definitely rattled. She was quite shaken.”
Pisano would later thank Balasiuk in a Facebook post “for his valiant heroism.”
“He saved our dog and saved our daughter from harm,” Pisano said. “I don’t know what would have happened had he not shown up.”
The incident comes just days before an information session from the town’s staff suggesting “ongoing concerns” with the coyote population in and around the municipality.
Coyote Watch Canada, the Lincoln County Humane Society, Niagara Regional Police Services, and the Ministry of Natural Resources are all expected to engage residents at the session on Wednesday night.
“The purpose of this session is to address the growing sightings and disturbances occurring in Niagara-on-the-Lake,” staff said in a release.
On social media, Pisano is urging residents to “take that anger” and voice concerns at the session.
“Posting without sharing your concerns will do nothing,” wrote Pisano.
In offering “wildlife proofing” tips, the town is suggesting low-intensity hazing techniques to send a clear message to unwanted wildlife.
“Yelling in a firm voice while outdoors ‘go away,’ banging pots, spraying a water hose and throwing objects towards but not at the coyote… can be effective deterrents to safely move a coyote away,” staff said.
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