Woman gets $2,490 for dead dog

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HJORTKVARN, Sweden, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A Swedish woman said she was given $2,490 after an eagle snatched her chihuahua in central Sweden.

Karolina Widing, 38, said her pet chihuahua, Lilleman, went missing from her yard in Hjortkvarn in mid-January, The Local.se reported Thursday.

Widing searched for the dog all night and into the next day when she discovered a pool of blood by a wall of the house.

"It looked as if someone had shot him," she said. "But there were no prints. It couldn't have been a fox that took him, or anything similar, there was just a pool of blood and then nothing."

A neighbor then told her that he had seen an eagle flying off with a object in its mouth at the exact time the dogs had been let out. At the time he assumed it was a rabbit.

The bird was likely a golden eagle, which has talons large enough to grab a fox and a wingspan that can reach up to 90.5 inches.

"In some senses, I'm relieved to know what happened to him," Widing said. "I was so worried that he would have frozen to death. He only weighed three kilograms [6.6 pounds]."

The Swedish government then decided to pay Widing $2,490 for her loss under a law that compensates farmers when their livestock is killed or harmed by wild animals such as bear, wolf, lynx and wolverines.

Widing said she plans to use the money to build a safety area for her other pets use the experience to warn other pet owners.

"Don't be naive, don't let your dogs out without a leash if you live anywhere near an open area with these eagles," she told The Local. "The eagles can be very hungry."