A spunky Pomeranian named Sadie is lucky to be alive after she was 
snatched by an owl in the woods near her Iowa home. Sadie had run away 
last week after being scared by fireworks, reports the Associated 
Press. "I just kinda thought she had found somewhere to sleep and that she 
would be home," Sadie's owner, Michelle McCarten, explained to the AP.

Instead, "Sadie was swooped up by an owl in the woods," the AP reports. 
The dog was discovered when she fell out of the sky, landing in the middle 
of the road in front of a surprised driver, Jamie Padden. Padden had 
gotten out of the car to help the dog when she saw the owl returning. 

"The bird's wingspan took up about half of the road when it was coming 
down, so it was a pretty big bird," Padden told the AP. "I was screaming 
and yelling... and the bird took back up."

"The area they showed [in the video] looks like perfect great-horned-owl 
territory," raptor specialist, Trish Nixon, tells Paw Nation. "Without 
having been there, I surmise that the owl saw the Pomeranian running 
around -- not much bigger than a rabbit -- and was either protecting its 
territory or was hungry." Rabbits are prey to raptors such as the great 
horned owl, which are called the "tigers of the sky," says Nixon, "because 
they are pretty fearless when it comes to hunting and protecting their 
territory." 

Luckily, Sadie escaped the owl's clutches with only a broken tail. "I 
would guess that the reason the dog was dropped was that it was too heavy 
for the owl to actually carry and hold on to for long," says Nixon. Owls 
are nocturnal, so if a small dog is left out at night, it could be 
mistaken for prey. 

Interesting story. I can't seem to pull up the video on this.