Travis Van Winkle is warning his fellow pet owners after a scary close encounter with coyotes in Los Angeles on Sunday. The You star took to Instagram Monday to share how he was injured saving his dog Karen after she was attacked by two of the animals at Griffith Park while they were hiking.
“I just want to share with you, if you’re hiking with your dog up here at Griffith Park, be very careful,” the actor warned in a video. “I was hanging out in this little back area over here, and Karen and I were just kinda hiking and throwing some bark to her down this hill when two coyotes… like, literally came after her. One almost got her leg. I had to slide down the mountain, literally screaming at the top of my lungs. I literally slid down the mountain and they scurried off.”
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While Van Winkle first feared Karen had been bitten, he realized she had managed to make it through unscathed. He, on the other hand, ended up with a massive scrape on his left leg, which he showed off on Instagram. “Holy s-, that was close,” he added. “That was closer than I wanted it to be.” He added in the caption, “Way too close for comfort. Glad my little sweetie is okay. Luckily it went our way today.”
Van Winkle’s encounter with coyotes luckily didn’t end in tragedy, unlike other celebs who have lost their pups to the animals in Los Angeles. In April 2014, Miley Cyrus lost her dog Floyd when he was attacked while she was touring, and in February 2019, LeAnn Rimes lost her dog Eveie when her family’s furry friend was attacked in front of her and Eddie Cibrian. “This is one of the most difficult, heartbroken moments our whole family has ever experienced,” Rimes wrote on social media at the time.
In November 2021, Jen Atkin also lost dog Chewy in a similarly tragic coyote attack. “She didn’t deserve this kind of an ending. To hear your baby cry out and not be able to do anything is hell. I’ll never forget her final cry,” Atkin wrote on social media. “An hour later Mike found her remains in an abandoned yard. We truly did all we could screaming her name and driving thru the streets in panic.”
