Utility dog breeds have their pros and cons. They’re easy to feed since they don’t need as much food, they can live in relatively small living spaces, and you can carry them around with you.
On the other hand, they are much more vulnerable to things that larger dogs normally don’t need to worry about.
Cars on the road might see a larger dog from some distance away, but smaller ones aren’t as lucky. They can’t exactly get up and down from certain heights as easily as a normal-sized dog can either. Maybe most notably, they can’t hold their own in a confrontation against other animals as easily.
Chickens, cats, raccoons, turkeys and what-have-you will think twice before picking a fight with a normal dog. A terrier or a Chihuahua, though? Let’s just say the weight divisions aren’t really balanced here.
Now, having a much larger animal attack your little, utility breed puppy is bad enough already. But just was Cecilia Celis’ bad luck on this day when a hawk, of all things, decided to go after her Yorkie.
Hawks are gnarly but otherwise wonderful birds when they’re not attacking your family pets.
The full scene plays out on their family’s CCTV video. Lulu, as the Yorkie is named, is pinned down by the predatory bird right onto the concrete. The dog is, in fact, probably heavier than the Hawk. Despite the daunting wingspans of such birds, they typically don’t exceed 2-3 kilograms.
However, these birds are still predators. Even a 2 kilogram hawk is still armed with vicious, recurved talons on its feet. They can easily puncture and tear through the skin and flesh of most animals they hunt. A tiny domestic dog doesn’t exactly have many natural defenses against hawk talons.
Another Yorkie, Lulu’s sister, watches in fear and barks wildly for help. The poor dog had to watch a hawk try and snatch away her sister.
Cecilia knows her dog isn’t going to stand a chance. She acts quickly – there’s no telling what the hawk has already done to the dog.
“I was screaming like bloody murder!”
The hawk attempts to fly off with the dog. Lulu scrambles and tries, with all her might, to resist and stay on the ground. When Cecilia finally arrives, she screams frantically at the hawk to let go. She stomps and tries to intimidate the Hawk into releasing Lulu from its talons, to no avail.
She gives up negotiating with the Hawk and resorts to something much more effective : Whacking it with a seat cushion. After one or two direct hits, it flies off and leaves Lulu.
Cecilia rushed Lulu to the vet. The Red-Tailed Hawk that attacked her was gone, but it left its mark on Lulu. A deep wound on the Yorkie’s neck that would have lead to the worst, had Cecilia not gotten to the vet in time.
The Red-Tailed Hawk is one of the most common birds of prey in North America. Though despite its common name, it’s not that closely related to other Hawks.
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Eagles and Hawks all belong to a large family – the Accipitridae. An accipitrid is considered an “Eagle” in the common sense if it happens to be large enough. There is no natural, single, genetic grouping of accipitrids that you can call “Eagles”. Although under this family, Hawks are usually placed within what’s called a subfamily. In this case, the Accipitrinae (note the “n” rather than a “d”).
The Red-Tailed Hawk itself is famous for having its distinct, screeching call used as a sound effect for Eagles in Hollywood films. If you hear a Bald eagle on TV making that classic screaming noise, you are actually hearing a Red-Tailed hawk. The same kind that attacked Lulu.
And to make things even more confusing, the Red-Tailed Hawk does not belong to Accipitrinae like the other Hawks.
The genus Buteo is an accipitrid, sure. It’s definitely too small to be an “Eagle” too, but why isn’t it classified with its cousins in the same family? Well that’s all thanks to DNA and evolution. The Red-Tailed Hawk is closer related to Sea Eagles and Buzzards than it is to “real” Hawks.
So there isn’t a neat and tidy way to group all the small predatory birds together into a single, genetic family. Alas, that’s the reality of evolution. Nevertheless, it’s remarkably fascinating to learn about these birds when they’re not trying to maul your pets.
Watch the moment a Red-Tailed hawk meets its match in a 15-year old girl down below!
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