Small dog mauled by coyote

Danette Goulet

It took two hours and more than 100 stitches, but doctors managed to

put Chantik back together again.

Chantik, which means “pretty” in Indonesian, is a 7-year-old miniature

dachshund who was attacked by a coyote in her own backyard last week.

The attack occurred last Wednesday in the yard of Chantik’s owners,

Conrad and Elizabeth Rietveld. The house backs up to the Meadow Lark Golf

Course in Huntington Beach.

Elizabeth was in the kitchen just before 6 p.m. when she heard their

other miniature dachshund, Manis, barking frantically in the backyard.

“I think she saved [Chantik’s] life,” said Elizabeth, who saw the same

coyote walking along their back fence the next morning. “It came back, it

was looking here for breakfast.”

Chantik, who is home and hobbling around looking like a patchwork

quilt, is lucky to be alive, veterinarians say.

“She was basically ripped to shreds, by that I mean she had multiple

lacerations all over her entire body,” said Laura Rosenberg, the

veterinarian who treated her.

Although the near fatal attack left her small, 10-pound body shredded,

the worst damage was at her throat, Rosenberg said. “Her entire throat

area had been ripped up,” Rosenberg said.

“Because dachshunds have loose flesh, loose slack skin around their

throats the jugular vein and main nerve were missed. I think that is what

saved her life.”

The Rietvelds say they respect coyotes’ rights to live free and roam

the area, but they are concerned with the creatures’ being in the

neighborhood where small children and animals play.

They said they don’t want to be alarmists, but wanted people to be

educated about the danger of feeding these animals. Following the attack,

they sent out a flier with a letter telling their story and an

information sheet on coyotes.

The coyote they saw they described as light tan in color and about the

size of a small German Shepard.

As to what should be done, the Rietvelds said they aren’t sure.

“We’re going to close up the hole in the fence,” Conrad said. If they

continue to see the coyotes stalking the yards, he said he hopes maybe

the golf course will help chase them back to the wetlands.

In the meantime they won’t be letting their four small grandchildren,

or their dogs, play in the yard unsupervised.