Angela Threatful’s dog Wrinkles was attacked by a coyote for the second time this year. This time, Threatful herself was also injured while tending to her horse at the Selkirk Saddle Club on Thursday.
She was riding one of her horses bareback in the open pasture at the south end of the club grounds when Wrinkles spotted the coyote and ran off. The coyote gave chase, bit onto Wrinkles’ leg, knocked him down and then grabbed onto his right shoulder, Threatful said.
“From there he grabbed the side of his neck and tried to rip him open,” she said in an interview Friday morning. “And, well, he pretty much succeeded. He’s a hurting unit.”
Seeing the attack, Threatful got off her horse to save her dog, hitting the coyote with a stick and kicking at it. That’s when the coyote turned and bit her right leg.
“When you hear that scream coming out of a dog like that – it’s a sound I’ve never heard before,” she said. “You don’t think, you just react. That’s my pup, he’s a good boy.”
Even after badly wounded, Wrinkles tried to fight back, Threatful said, at one point putting his own jaws on the coyote before the predator ran off.
The attack left Threatful with a deep bite on her calf and puncture wounds down her leg. On Saturday, two days after being bitten, she said the wound was still sore.
Wrinkles was in much worse shape, with an injured leg, a large wound on the right shoulder and a deep laceration on his face that that ran about four inches and came close to his eye. The area around his eye was badly swollen.
Wrinkles spent the day at the vet while Threatful attended Queen Victoria Hospital, where she received eight stitches.
“He’s lost quite a few of his wrinkles now that he’s had a face lift,” she said with a light chuckle on Friday.
Wrinkles was released and will require four to six weeks for recovery, Threatful said, adding that his leg was a concern.
“We’re waiting to see what happens with the leg and hoping for no infection,” she said Friday. On Saturday she said that he was already doing a lot better
She said she spoke to conservation officer Adam Christie, who told her he would look into the situation and try and deal with the problem.
The Times Review e-mailed Christie Friday morning for comment on this incident but did not hear back as of press time. We also contacted the Conservation Office general line but did not receive a response following our initial call.
This is the second time Wrinkles has been attacked this year by the saddle club. In early January, he was set upon by three coyotes and suffered a large wound to the face. That time, Threatful was able to scare them off with a shovel.
That wound was still visible but the hair on his face had grown back in around it. Now Wrinkles has another large laceration over the back right part of his head.
Threatful said she has been cautious in the area ever since the first attack but hadn’t had any issues since the winter.
“We hadn’t even seen or heard coyotes in recent months,” she said. “I have to go and feed my horses – that’s the way it is.”