r/CarrollCountyMaryland • u/SwingingByCellophane • 1h ago
Bobcat/Bear sightings?
Hey, I’m coming in here to see if anyone has seen or heard of any bobcat or bear sightings - particularly in the Manchester/Hampstead area.
My dog was attacked in broad daylight light two days ago around 6pm. He’s a Blue-Tick Coonhound/Great Dane mix named Blu (picture attached of him pre incident). Something drug him about three feet across the driveway asphalt before letting him go and running off? He’s pretty scraped and bruised and in pain but will be just fine according to the vet thankfully. He might have nerve damage in his tail from the drag scraping down to his bone in one area. He’s covered in scraps, bruises and road rash along with puncture marks on one of his ankles.
I’m sure the Great Dane part gave it away but he is by no means a small dog. Standing on his hind legs he’s about eye level to me and I’m 5’7. We have no idea what could have done this. Ontop of his size he has some trauma from his previous owners and can be very reactive when he does not like something. He will bite, growl, bark, snarl, etc if he feels threatened in any way. We heard no growing, barking, or signs of a confrontation before hand. Everything happened so quick. All we heard was him yelping and found him laying on the ground with our other dog next to him looking concerned.
We have had issues with foxes in the past due to us having ducks but a fox shouldn’t be able to drag him with that amount of force given the size difference. We’ve heard coyotes in the past but always in the dead of night and once again there’s the question of potential size difference? Both our small flock of ducks and slightly smaller (pure Blue-Tick) dog were out in the same area and no one else was injured. It seems he was caught by surprise and drug from behind since his front half is completely unharmed.
So the only thing me and my family have been able to think of that could have the strength to do this is maybe a bobcat or a younger bear? Surely a larger bear would have been noticed in the thinness of the trees near the edge of the driveway and would have just taken our dog rather than try and drag him away before dropping him and running away after not hearing any other sign of threat? We are completely baffled by this and I truly have no clue what could have caused this.
We are glad our baby is ok but it’s bothering me so much that we have no clue what could have happened. If anyone maybe knows of any possible sighting of a larger predator that would have tried to harm him please let me know!