Alabama Livestock Dog Kills Eight Coyotes to Defend Sheep

A brave livestock dog put its own life on the line to protect a herd of sheep when a pack of 11 coyotes surrounded them. The 20-month-old Great Pyrenees named Casper managed to kill eight of the coyotes, but was seriously injured during the fight.

John Wierwille, the homeowner and Casper's owner, told News 11 the coyotes first appeared in the culdesac in front of their Decatur, Alabama, home around 9 p.m. on November 3, but he scared them away by throwing a few rocks and yelling at them.

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But, around 2:30 a.m. the following day, Wierwille was awakened by the barking dogs. He went outside to investigate and saw his two dogs, Casper and Daisy, backing the sheep up in the corner of the fence to protect them.

When he approached, Wierwille saw a few coyotes inside the pen and others just beyond it. He counted around five or six at that time.

"I wasn't really afraid they were going to attack me or anything," he said. "But they weren't responding [to me], they were focused on Casper I think more than anything."

He said Casper then charged into the middle of the pack and fought the coyotes, killing several of them. The surviving coyotes jumped the fence and split up, running different directions. Casper chased them down outside of the fence and killed a few more. Wierwille said the fight lasted approximately 30 minutes. Eventually he lost sight of his loyal dog.

After the commotion was over, Wierwille counted several dead coyotes, but he couldn't find Casper anywhere.

"So the next day, we thought we could find him. We thought he must have been killed and so we were looking for him," he said. "If he wasn't killed, we figured he was hurt. We knew he was hurt, because we found parts of his tail and blood and other things, so we were worried about him."

Neighbors joined in the search for Casper. They found more dead coyotes but no dog. Fortunately, two days later, Casper returned.

"He looked like death. I mean he looked terrible," Wierwille said. "He came back home and he just kind of looked at me like, 'Boss, stop looking at how bad I look. Just take care of me.'"

Wierwille sought the help of LifeLine, a nonprofit with a mission of ending the shelter euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals. Casper underwent several surgeries to close up wounds on his neck and back, and to amputate his tail.

Wierwille said Casper will survive and recover from his injuries, but he may no longer be able to guard the sheep.

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