Woman wants neighbors to hire trappers after coyote attacks dog

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A Sandy Springs woman is calling on her neighbors to help her eradicate a coyote family after one tried to run away with her dog.

Betsy Lurey said she took her 3-year-old Shorkie, Lilly, out to go to the bathroom around midnight Sunday. She said when she put Lilly on the ground, she chased a coyote in the middle of the street.

"It was terrifying. It was terrifying," Lurey told Channel 2's Craig Lucie.

Lucie said Lurey got shaken up while talking about how the coyote grabbed Lilly in its mouth.

"She was out to protect me. She went flying, took off after the coyote. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I didn't know I had that kind of lung volume, and I continued screaming and screaming while following them," Lurey said.

Lurey said that's when the coyote dropped Lilly and then she had to listen for her.

"I just heard this noise and the tiniest of whimpers, and I found her," explained Lurey.

Lilly is fine now, but was bleeding a little from two puncture wounds.

Lurey is now trying to get all of her neighbors to pitch in to hire a coyote trapper, which can cost $500 per week.

She points to the Mt. Paran Homeowners Association, which hired a trapper who caught 21 coyotes in their area two years ago.

Lurey worries about young children on her street.

Lucie found on one coyote trapper's website where it said "Protect your family, call today."

"We will have a tragedy unless our neighborhood comes together to keep our neighborhood safe and get rid of this coyote population," Lurey told Lucie.

Lurey said she plans on writing a letter to neighbors and then having a neighborhood meeting with two trappers who can submit their proposals.

WSBTV