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An Oak Brook woman's toy poodle, taking a bathroom break in the backyard over the weekend, was attacked by what experts suspect was a family of coyotes.
Erin Turkin says her 1-year-old, seven-pound toy poodle, Molly, is back home after staying two days at a Berwyn animal hospital and racking up $2,000 in veterinarian bills.
But Saturday's attack was still fresh in her mind on Wednesday.
"I heard her
screaming at the top of her lungs, and the coyotes were howling. With all the noise, I thought it was something on TV."
Then she realized it was coming from the backyard, where Molly was. She watched the attack in horror, noting that two of the coyotes looked larger, while there were three smaller ones, "maybe their puppies," she said.
"I ran out screaming and yelling, and the coyotes ran away," she said.
Molly suffered a broken rib, a collapsed lung and three bite wounds, but was recovering on Wednesday.
Their home abuts a DuPage County Forest Preserve prairie, so Turkin and her boyfriend "see them every day."
Now, she said, she will have to keep Molly on a leash when she wants her outdoors.
Turkin and her boyfriend also have a 90-pound yellow lab, Duke. He was out in the yard at the time of the attack but was not harmed.
"It was heartbreaking," Turkin said. Molly "is probably the most spoiled dog in the world. She's literally like my kid. I put bows in her hair and dress her up in clothes."
http://suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-coyote16.html