A Corner Brook man is devastated about his cat's death following a brutal attack in his backyard by what may have been a coyote.

Edgar Burton from the Curling area said the attack happened Sunday morning around 8 a.m., when he let his cat Dusty outside.

Five minutes later, Burton heard a thumping sound, but couldn't see anything in his yard.

Another five minutes passed, and Burton said he heard a yapping sound, "like a dog barking."

"So I went to my back window and saw our cat and this animal in a standoff," he said. "I ran out and got between the two animals, and I grabbed our cat and ran inside."

Burton said by that time, the cat had already been seriously injured.

"When we brought the cat to the vet, the type of injuries the cat had where he had a broken spine and the insides were all torn out — intestines, colon, bowels, and everything — it was all the signs of a wild animal attack, as opposed to a dog."

Cat had to be put down

Burton said the injuries were so severe that, after nine years with the cat, Dusty had to be put down.

"Our hearts are broken. We loved the cat so much, she loved us, and she was so affectionate," he said. "It's indescribable the pain we're going through."

Burton reported the incident to wildlife officials, saying he's convinced what he saw in his yard that day was a coyote.

"Speaking with a wildlife officer, he said that it's possible that it was a coyote. It could have been a fox, according to him," he said.

"But by looking [up] these coyotes on YouTube, what I've seen on these videos is exactly the same as what I [saw] in my backyard."