Anita Wadhwani

awadhwani@tennessean.com

Neighbors in the Vanderbilt area community had admired the red-tailed hawk circling overhead for weeks.

But on Friday morning, Barbara Sanders heard her 22-year-old daughter scream. The bird had swooped into the family's yard and snatched her 7-pound Shih Tzu, Maltese mix, Bean.

She rushed to the back door. By then, Bean had been dropped. He was standing outside, bleeding. Sanders grabbed a towel to put pressure on a wound on the dog's neck. There were talon puncture wounds across the dog's back. They rushed him to the vet, who gave him pain pills and antibiotics before performing surgery.

By Sunday morning, Bean had died. Sanders said the vet believes his injuries were so severe in part because of his fall from the hawk's talons.

"My family and I are so very sad," Sanders said. But she has mixed feelings: "We've encroached on the animals' natural habitat, and now we have coyotes and hawks killing little critters."

Bean died at home in the family's bathtub padded with pillows and blankets.

Reach Anita Wadhwani at 615-259-8092 or on Twitter @AnitaWadhwani.