Celeb's dog snatched by hawk

It would be comedic, if it weren't so sad: former Playboy Playmate and "Dancing With The Stars" contestant Shanna Moakler tweeted earlier in the week that her Chihuahuas had gotten attacked by an eagle.

We're actually not sure an eagle did the dive-bombing of Moakler's pets – Moakler herself told Hollyscoop.com that she lives in a neighborhood "where coyotes and hawks are prevalent." Irrespective of the avian species, however, Moakler's tweets from Monday afternoon reveal that predatory wildlife is an ongoing problem for owners of small pets. "A eagle attacked my 2 chi's today, my girl pup is at the vet, my boy is missing, between my cat and my pups, I'm about to [expletive] kill things," a distressed Moakler tweeted late Monday. "I am so incredibly sad."

So what exactly happened? Moakler's exclusive statement to Hollyscoop described a regular afternoon walkies gone terribly awry: "We took the dogs outside to go to the bathroom and they were attacked by a hawk. My one puppy may have lost an eye, we won't know for a couple weeks and the bird flew off with my other puppy. It was like out of a movie."

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Moakler lives in Calabasas, CA with her kids; the community is north of L.A. and boasts a number of celebrity residents (it's also the Kardashians' hometown). But the local wildlife seem to be picking on the Moakler clan, despite the matriarch's attempts to protect her pets; she'd installed coyote-proof fencing, but that didn't forestall the attack from the air – the second assault in a month, she noted. (Presumably, this is the cat she was referring to in her tweet.)

Moakler is making a point of warning other pet owners to keep their guards up: "I just hope people with small dogs will start taking precautions with their pets outside and try to protect them from predators." She added that we shouldn't take loved ones for granted, "both people and fur babies."

That's good advice, and we hope she and her family – both people and fur babies – aren't too traumatized by these experiences. She's not the only famous blonde to have a small dog snatched by a predator, either; Jessica Simpson's Malti-poo, Daisy, got nabbed by a coyote right in front of her in 2009.

If you live in an area where coyotes, hawks, or other hungry carnivores roam, take precautions like the ones we mention in our piece about coyote-proofing your pets' surroundings, readable right here. And if you've had this particular tragedy strike, our sympathies to you – and we'd love to hear your preventive tips in the comments. Be careful out there, folks.

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