A Colorado woman did what she could to protect one of her puppies from a coyote attack, but it wasn’t enough.

CBS4 reports Debra Gania was watching her eight puppies in her backyard when a large coyote hopped her 6-foot privacy fence and snatched Dylan, a 6-week-old lap-shepard mix. Gania saw the coyote take off with Dylan in its mouth and she quickly grabbed a garden hoe and chased the predator.

“He tried to jump the fence first with the puppy in his mouth. It fell backwards it didn’t make it,” Gania told the TV station. “I was just right on him ready to swing. He dropped the puppy and jumped over.”

Though Gania was able to rescue the puppy from the coyote, CBS4 reports Dylan suffered severe bite wounds to his neck and will need to be euthanized.

The TV station reports Gania hopes her tragic story will inform others the dangers coyotes bring.

“If they could have got my puppy they could get some toddler,” she told CBS4.

Courtesy CBS4