A lionhearted Yorkshire terrier fought off a coyote twice her size to protect her 10-year-old owner after it attacked them.
Owner Lily Kwan, 10, said she had just seen fliers in her Toronto, Canada neighborhood on Tuesday warning people of a coyote chasing children in the area when the animal started snapping at her heels while she was walking her dog Macy.
In footage captured by a neighbor’s security camera, Lily can be seen running down the sidwalk with her six-year-old rescue dog while the coyote follows in hot pursuit.
‘I thought, ‘Am I next, what is going to happen to me?” Lily told Canada’s WDAM 7.
‘I was screaming for help but no one heard me,’ said Lily. ‘I saw this coyote trying to attack my dog and I tried to ring people’s doorbells and knock on people’s doors… this one neighbor let me in.’
But while Lucy made it to safety, Macy wouldn’t follow her inside, instead tugging against the leash toward the coyote.When Lily dropped the leash, the little dog whipped around to confront the coyote. After briefly screaming Macy’s name, Lily runs onto the neighbor’s porch and out of the camera’s view.
Macy can be seen squaring off with the coyote, before it snatches her up in its mouth and shakes her violently. She yelps in pain, but keeps barking and chasing the coyote until it gives up and retreats.
‘She’s a super brave dog,’ Lily said. ‘I love her so much, and I just thought this tiny dog could protect this huge human being, trying to fight off this huge coyote.’
Lily’s mother, Dorothy Kwan, was not present at the time of the incident, but obtained the video from the neighbor’s home security system.
‘My dog would do anything for our family, so I’m actually not surprised that she did that,’ Dorothy Kwan said. Dorothy said she was shocked by the animal’s brazen behavior.
‘I would never guess that a coyote, you know, would come out during the day and especially with someone screaming and yelling it still was not fazed,’ Dorothy said. ‘It just kept coming after her and our dog, you know, despite all the yelling. It was quite aggressive.’
Macy was taken to the ICU on Tuesday, and returned home on Thursday with about 40 staples holding her wounds closed and drainage tubes.
‘The amazing support we have received from friends, family, neighbors and complete strangers is overwhelming,’ Dorothy wrote on a GoFundMe raising money for the little dog’s vet bills.
‘Her fever is gone and she’s got her appetite back… What an absolutely courageous dog. I am so very proud of her. No coyotes will want to mess with her when she comes home. My feisty girl is a true fighter.’
As of Thursday evening, over 600 donors have given over $22,000 to the Kwan family and their brave pet, double the fundraiser’s goal amount.
