The silence of the early morning in Las Chacritas, in the Argentine province of San Juan, was interrupted by an event that left residents bewildered. What began with a strange noise in the backyard of a residence ended in a rescue operation and a report that defies conventional explanations.
According to resident Yanina Baigorria, everything happened around 1 a.m. She was awakened by a loud crash coming from the backyard, a sharp and intense sound that immediately caught her attention. At the same time, the dogs in the house began barking furiously toward an area covered by bushes.
Concerned, Yanina grabbed a flashlight and went out to check what was happening. When she directed the beam of light toward the location, she came across an imposing figure that, at first glance, she described as a bird of extraordinary size. While the dogs stared at the strange silhouette aggressively, the scene took on even more surprising contours.
Without taking her eyes off the creature, Yanina claims she saw the being lower its head, grab her dog, named Perreta, and then take off vertically with a powerful thrust, disappearing among the trees of the nearby forest.
“It felt like climbing. The tree was shaking in an unusual way, and the dog was barking up there,” the witness, still shaken, recalled. Amid the intense tension, she also claimed to have perceived a kind of disturbing laughter or murmuring coming from the winged creature.
Desperate, Yanina ran into the house to wake her husband and call for help. At that exact moment, she saw the creature abruptly leave the top of the tree, fly toward the front of the property, and completely disappear into the darkness of the night, leaving the dog stranded high above.
Unable to rescue the animal on their own, the family called emergency services via 911. Officers from the 31st Precinct were surprised upon arrival to find the height at which the dog was trapped. Perreta was about 20 meters above the ground, in a position completely inaccessible for a simple rescue.
Un ave levantó a un perro: así fue el rescate en Las Chacritas pic.twitter.com/vHyZdtPQLY
— Tiempo de San Juan (@tiempodesanjuan) June 19, 2026After a complex and meticulous operation that required the use of ladders and ropes, the officers successfully rescued the dog.
The most striking aspect of the rescue, and what adds an extra layer of mystery to the case, is that Perreta was brought down without a single injury. After a thorough examination, it was confirmed that she was neither hurt nor scratched, and showed no signs of claw marks or evidence of being bitten or forcibly restrained.
This final detail creates an insurmountable contradiction with known wildlife. The largest birds of prey on the planet are only capable of lifting prey weighing between one and five kilograms, and their talons inevitably leave deep marks on heavier animals.
This biological impossibility also rules out the most obvious candidate in the Andean region: the condor. The species has blunt legs that are not adapted for gripping or carrying prey in flight. In addition, its gliding body structure prevents it from performing vertical takeoffs while carrying heavy loads from flat terrain.
