Animal 411

Deep Valley Road Man Cited for Allowing a Dog To Roam After Border Collies Circle Passerby

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Police cited a Deep Valley Road man with two counts of allowing a dog to roam after his two border collies circled, barked at and jumped up on a woman walking her smaller dog along the street on a recent morning. The New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control unit last Tuesday received a report that the woman, walking her 27-pound Labradoodle, had been set upon by the two collies, both nine years old, according to a police report. The woman picked up her dog to protect it, officials said. According to Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt, the man who owns the dog has had many instances of the animals getting loose off-property “but this is the first time they’ve actually circled and tried to get at dogs.”

“They’ve never been known to be aggressive” before, Kleinschmitt said. Each summons for allowing a dog to roam carries a $92 fine.

Animal 411

Repeat Offender: Darien Man Fined Again for Running Dogs Off-Leash in Waveny

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Police on Tuesday morning issued a Darien man a $90 fine for violating New Canaan’s local ordinance on keeping dogs leashed in public places—a total fine of $136, including a state processing fee—following a report that his dog was running off-leash in Waveny. At about 9:50 a.m., Animal Control officials acting on a tip spotted the man’s male black Labrador mixed-breed dog running off-leash just behind Waveny House. According to Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt, the man had been fined on three counts of violating the leash ordinance on April 19 when police caught him with three dogs running off-leash in Waveny. “We get a lot of problems with people from Darien,” Kleinschmitt said. The dog running off-leash today is licensed with the town of Darien, Kleinschmitt said.

Animal 411

‘We Love Animals’: Local Girl Scouts Buy Materials for New Fence at Shelter

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Asked about what spurred Girl Scouts Troop 198 to purchase the materials needed to enclose an area at the New Canaan Animal Shelter with a chain link fence, NCHS freshman Amanda Hill has a ready answer: “We love animals.”

That love drove Hill and her fellow Girl Scouts to purchase a dryer for the shelter last year, so that the dogs and cats could get dried off immediately after returning to the Lakeview Avenue shelter—say, after Kleinschmitt or a member of her staff took them for a quick, leashed walk. But when she’d take them for those walks, Kleinschmitt “always had to take them far around and by the dump and couldn’t really train them, because they always had to be on leashes,” Hill said on a recent afternoon and she and other members of Troop 198 gathered with Kleinschmitt in front of the fence, recently installed at the Lakeview Avenue shelter with the help of the New Canaan Department of Public Works. “So we thought if we gave her an outdoor area, she would be able to walk and train the dogs,” Hill said. For Kleinschmitt, the fence not only delivers new functionality to the shelter, but also enhances its aesthetics—creating an even nicer place for prospective parents to adopt the lost or abandoned pets that end up there. “First of all, we can put plants in front of here and it will look nicer for people who are coming either to pick up their dogs or for people who want to adopt a dog,” said Kleinschmitt, who will retire at the end of September.

Animal 411

Coyote Takes Dog on Michigan Road

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A coyote killed a dog in a Michigan Road yard on Saturday afternoon and scampered off with its body, according to police. At about 3 p.m. on Aug. 22, a husband and wife were inside their home near the intersection of Jennifer Lane when they heard their dog barking outside and then, after hearing a yip, went outside to find what was happening and saw a coyote running away, according to a report filed with the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control Unit. It isn’t clear what breed the dog was—the animal had been left in the yard, protected by an invisible fence, according to Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt, head of Animal Control. This time of year, the coyotes born from about March to May are starting to hunt on their own, and their prey can include cats and smaller dogs, Kleinschmitt said.

Animal 411

Wild Animal Stops Traffic on Weed St., Moves Along When Cops Approach

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More than one driver reported a “beaver” on the roadway at the intersection of Weed Street and Marshall Ridge Road, and the animal was enough to stop Weed Street traffic in both directions. When police approached the animal, it moved off the road, and it didn’t appear to be injured. Town Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said she wasn’t at this scene and didn’t see the animal herself, but most reports of “beavers” are woodchucks. If there’s no body of water close by, it’s extremely unlikely that an animal that someone reports to police is actually a beaver, she said. ***

A resident of Forest Street, not far from its intersection with Heritage Hill Road, reported at 9:44 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6, that a bat in the house was killed by a resident.