Expert: Roger Lederer - 4/18/2007

Question
Roger, my question is similar to the gentleman with the yorkie...but as a dog trainer, I've seen 2 to 3 lbs yorkies up to 14 - 15 lbs.  I have a similar situation...a Red Tail cruised down to take a look at my two 10.5 lbs white Papillons.  Routinely in California, Red Tails would take my white chickens but never the Rhode Island Reds.  Our backyard is fenced, but this big bird definitely was taking a look at my dogs.  I've seen this bird many times...am I going to have to put up bird netting to keep my little guys safe?  We live in a very rural area with lots of chipmunks etc. and other prey for the Red Tail to eat.  At first my husband and I (who were sitting in our hot tub) were awed by the Red tail swooping down to about 20 ft. but then we realized he was shopping!  I was going to cal DOW tomorrow, but found your site on the Net.  Thanks.

Answer
In my experience, there are no substantiated cases of dogs or cats being taken by Red-tailed (or similar) Hawks. I very seriously doubt that your dogs are at risk. The very biggest Red-tail is under 3 pounds and I would be very very surprised that they would take any prey half that weight. Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com