Hawk Nearly Flies Off with Puppy

Kathy Jezek was in her back yard with her two Maltese puppies, Kasha and Mishka, Thursday morning in the Indian Ridge neighborhood of Glenview.

As she stood on the patio, a hawk swooped down from behind her and nearly knocked her down. She screamed at it and chased it away, waving her arms as the bird of prey tried to pick up Mishka, her four-pound puppy, Jezek said.

She kept screaming and waving her arms, but “the hawk was not fazed by me at all,” she said. Unable to snare the puppy, the bird landed in a tree nearby and stared at her.

Finally, the hawk flew over the house and left.

“If I had not been in that very spot, I know the hawk would have taken my puppy,” Jezek said.

Jezek shared her story with Patch in hopes of warning other owners of small pets.

“I have seen hawks in the area but never knew how aggressive they are,” she said. “Nor did I think they wouldn’t be frightened of people.”

Photo: Kasha (left) and Mishka (right). Courtesy of Kathy Jezek