DEAR JOAN: Last weekend something came over my 6-foot fence and attacked my papillon dog. Do you have any idea what could have done this?

It was 9 in the morning and whatever it was nearly tore the head off my puppy. It needed 1-1/2 hours of emergency surgery to repair the damage and was in critical condition for three days.

The vet thought it was a big dog but the yard is completely fenced with no holes of any kind. I have since added an 8-foot fence about 15 feet in front of the first fence to prevent this from happening again, but I was wondering if you had a clue as to what kind of animal I'm dealing with.

There is a water drainage ditch right behind where this happened. It was in broad daylight so I was kind of ruling out the nocturnals.

Karen Kennedy,Newark

DEAR KAREN: Two possibilities come to mind — a coyote or a bird of prey. Neither would be deterred by the 6-foot fence.

Coyotes, who sometimes hunt in the daylight, have been known to jump over 8-foot tall fences. They generally grab their prey and take it to a safe place to eat. If it was a coyote that injured your dog, something interrupted the attack and the coyote fled without the dog.

Hawks, falcons and eagles — all daytime hunters — will attack small dogs and cats, but despite their impressive size, they can't carry prey that weighs more than three or four pounds. The bird would have struck your dog and then attempted to kill it in your yard.

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Because your vet thinks a large dog was involved, I'd say it was a coyote. To prevent a future attack, you should modify your fence even more, adding an extension to the top, angled at 45 degrees and pointing the direction away from your yard.

Coyotes also are good diggers, so to increase the protection even more, bury hardware cloth 2 feet down. As we aren't sure it was a coyote, then you might want to wait for more evidence before going to the extra expense and work.

Discouraging birds of prey is more difficult. The best defense is to be with your dog whenever it is outside. Such attacks are rare, but they do happen. I'm so pleased that your little papillon survived and is doing well.

Big cat or raccoon?

Earlier this week I had a question from a reader about some tracks he had seen on his deck in Lafayette. I sent his photo to three wildlife experts who all agreed it was made by a cat of some sort. Two said mountain lion, one said bobcat.

footprints.Noah
Was it a big cat or a raccoon that made these prints? Experts disagree. Courtesy of Noah

After the column appeared, I heard from a wildlife biologist and a couple of other experts who said that was no cat, that was a raccoon.

Imogene Davis, who specializes in big cats, wrote: "The tracks seen in the photo belong to a raccoon. The toe length and arrangement, negative space between the pads and heel, and gait pattern on the deck are distinctly raccoon."

I'm not sure how we ended up with two identifications that are so different from each other, but I'm sure a lot of people in Lafayette will sleep easier knowing it was a raccoon.

My apologies for the confusion.