Eloise Killeffer can remember returning home from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on an Easter Sunday about 15 years ago.
Pulling into the driveway of the century-old Colonial in New Canaan where she’s lived since 1978, Killeffer spotted the body of rabbit that clearly had been hit by a car and killed.
Eloise and Tuppence Killeffer. Credit: Michael Dinan
“Somebody—on Easter Sunday, of all times—had run over this bunny,” Killefer recalled from outside the house on the corner of Main and Oak Streets. “I was half-angry and half-grieved to see this. And I thought, ‘Couldn’t you just slow down? Just once?’ So in my Sunday-best clothes, I went into my garage and I got my shovel.”
A self-described dog person (Cocker Spaniels) and all-around animal-lover, Killeffer would bury the rabbit in her modest back yard and utter a prayer, and apology, over its body—the very early years what has become a regular, and profound, practice for the longtime resident.
“I don’t expect other people to understand this, because it is sort of bizarre,” she said. “But I’m a little bizarre about some things. And I think animals are so defenseless.”
Killeffer’s late husband bought her this Cocker Spaniel charm in the late 1980s. She didn’t want to wear it on a chain. In 1993, the couple found out that their first Cocker, Raffles, was mortally ill “and I’ve been wearing it every day since then.” Killeffer has had two Cocker Spaniels, Wimsey and Zoe, pass since then. All three are buried in Lakeview Cemetery beside her husband, she said. Credit: Michael Dinan
For about 15 or 20 years, and six times per year on average, Killeffer finds herself removing the remains of chipmunks and squirrels that have succumbed after motor vehicle strikes on local roads—a private, often difficult communion that the New Canaanite says keeps her true to deeply important principles.
“It’s respect for God’s creations—at the risk of sounding pious, which I am not—it is because I believe that even the least of His creations is worthy of respect,” Killeffer said. “And when I see animals that have been run over—there are people that think the only good squirrel is a dead squirrel, and yes, they are a nuisance in my backyard at my birdfeeders—but in point of fact, when I see one that has been run over, it just makes me sad, because it probably wasn’t necessary.”
Killeffer acquired this two-pence (“tuppence”) coin in England in 2011 and brought it home. Soon, her Cocker Spaniel named Zoe developed terminal kidney disease and she lost the dog. She named the next pet ‘Tuppence,’ and keeps the lucky coin on a sort of keychain she made herself. Credit: Michael Dinan
Killeffer doesn’t canvass the town for road kill—she spots the animals while walking her 2-year-old Cocker Spaniel, Tuppence, near her home. (Tuppence is Killeffer’s fourth Cocker, after Raffles, Wimsey—“W-I-M-S-E-Y, like Lord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy L. Sayers, childhood detective”—and Zoe.)
“I don’t really package them up from far away and bring them home,” she said.
Killeffer said that on average she comes across an animal in the road every other month, though “a lot depends on the season and on the plentitude of targets.”
A town resident since 1975, Killeffer belongs to and regularly volunteers at St. Mark’s as well as with the Community Emergency Response Team and is a member (and past president) of the Kiwanis Club of New Canaan and local chapter of the League of Women Voters of New Canaan.
Killeffer’s love for all animals can almost be paralyzing, she said.
Eloise Killeffer points toward the areas of her yard that she uses for burial. Credit: Michael Dinan
“I really do love animals, and it’s not because I’m nuts about it,” she said. “But there are some things I can’t do. I can’t go to a dog shelter and look at all those dogs. The APSCA is running an ad on television right now for a full minute and I cannot watch it. It makes me absolutely furious, because people are so irresponsible. And animals are perceived as disposable.”
Noting the case of a woman who was arrested recently in New York for throwing her dog out of the car, Killeffer said: “I mean, what is a matter with these people? Would they throw their children out of the car?”
She added: “I feel very sorry that we have created an environment where the animals that were here before we were are barely able to exist. They’ve been closed in and closed in and closed in.”
Killeffer said she knows of no one else who buries road kill and then utters the words to a traditional Book of Common Prayer burial service.
Asked to describe her connection to animals, she said, “I have a connection and I think it’s really about all of God’s creations.” She added with a smile: “I mean, I’m not crazy about reptiles, but other than that.”
Too many people treat wildlife as just a nuisance, and often the cruelty is disturbing. It’s nice to see someone take pause and acknowledges little creatures lost.