Interesting and sad guest story.

[Michael Baum]

So as most of you know we have a pretty rural lake house on Lake Coeur d'Alene in North Idaho. We also allow dogs, up to two.

I always tell the guests if you are bringing small dogs, keep them on a leash at all times and keep them close. Not everyone believes me that this is important.

One of our previous guests this year lost a small dog to a bald eagle. They were walking with their 2 dogs on the bike trail right near our house. The little dog got about 100 feet ahead of them and the bald eagle swooped in and snatched him up. Poof, he was gone. People were very upset as you can imagine.

We have 2 active bald eagle nests within a mile of our house. One is in a huge cottonwood not 100 yards down the lake. They often fly along the beach/trail front looking for fish or whatever. What makes it worse is there are about 15 active osprey nests within 5 miles of our house and all of them I can see are active with chicks. Bald eagles like to snatch away fish from ospreys so they hang around. Ospreys don't  feed on mammals, just fish so not an issue for small dogs.

The lesson for owners is to know your area. Know the risks to guests and let them know. If there is an open mineshaft (lots of them in north Idaho) etc. I am sure there is a ton of other things that could affect guests. Even if they are not on your property, if you know about them, let guests know.

I wish there was something more I could do for them, but you can only do so much.