A Gibsons family is mourning the loss of their beloved dog after it was snatched away by a coyote.

Alainah Russell said she spotted a coyote in front of her mother’s shop, Carola’s Quilt Shop, on Friday morning, so she went out to scare it away. When she got back into the shop, she realized her nine-year-old toy poodle Nicky was gone.

“And I went out to the parking lot looking for him, and when I went back and looked toward the shop, I saw a second coyote come out the front door with Nicky in its mouth,” she said.

Russell said the coyote ran onto the road, and her father and passersby ran after it, but it was just too quick for them.

“It was terrible,” she said. “It was really heartwrenching, and there was nothing we could do.”

Russell believes one coyote lured her outside while another went through the back door.

She and her family have been living near a wooded area for 16 years, but they never saw coyotes until this year, she said.

She describes the animals as scrawny, small and ill-looking.

Clint Davy with Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre says coyotes are a common threat in the region, but they almost never approach people.

He says he found the brazenness of the attack surprising, and that it should remind owners they need to protect pets from predators like coyotes.

With files from CTV British Columbia’s Bhinder Sajan