Our Animals

This section is dedicated to all things concerning our New Canaan animals—pets, wildlife, environmental and health matters touching the animals of our town, activity out of the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control Unit, and more.

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Recent Articles

$136 Fine for Woman Who Fails To Pick Up After Her Dog in Waveny

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Police on Monday fined a 33-year-old Pound Ridge, N.Y. woman for failing to pick up after her dog at Waveny. The $136 ticket—$90 for violating a local ordinance and an additional $46 state processing fee—followed information reported to authorities by two regulars at the popular park who saw the woman pull into one of the parking lots in front of Waveny House and let her retriever out, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. According to the report, the pair saw that the dog did its business straightaway and that the woman didn’t pick up after it, Halm said. “They were just really offended,” Halm said of the observers. It happened on Saturday, as temperatures soared into the 70s in New Canaan between unseasonable cold spells, and scores of park-goers headed outdoors to enjoy Waveny. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Animal 411, News, Our Animals, Allyson Halm, Animal Control, New Canaan Police Department, Parks and Recreation Commission, Waveny

‘They Are Not Enforcers’: Devereaux Advocates for Preservation of Spencer’s Run Volunteers

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Selectman Kit Devereaux on Tuesday said the volunteer committee that helps keep Spencer’s Run clean and friendly shouldn’t be disbanded, since its members in no way enforce the Waveny dog park’s rules. Responding to comments that the town’s highest elected official made recently, Devereaux said during a regular Board of Selectmen meeting that members of the Spencer’s Run Committee are “a positive force in maintaining a collegial environment.”

“They monitor and refill bag dispensers, they actually go around and clean up the park on a daily basis,” Devereaux said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “They must not try to enforce the rules, instead they contact Animal Control. It is a group of people that works hard at this and the reason that they have been included under the town insurance program is that they are working around dogs. So when you said that you thought they should be disbanded because there should not be committees enforcing rules and they are not enforcers.”

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan responded only that he would prefer talk about it at the next board meeting, when the possible disbanding of other committees—such as the Youth Sports Committee and Deer Committee—also may be addressed. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Animal 411, News, Our Animals, Board of Selectmen, Kevin Moynihan, Kit Devereaux, Spencer's Run

Five Bobcat Sightings Reported in New Canaan in the Last Month

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Police on Tuesday received a report and photo confirming a bobcat sighting on Marvin Ridge Road, the fifth sighting in less than one month of a species known for its reclusiveness. Bobcats are “showing themselves on a regular basis,” according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control Section. Residents should continue to report the sightings and “check your security cameras routinely for any other large predators that we would like to know about and accept be aware of their presence, just like coyote, bear and the possibility of a mountain lion passing through,” Halm said. The five recent bobcat sightings were as follows:

March 6: Hickory Drive
March 16: Toby’s Lane
March 29: Frogtown Road
March 27: Summersweet Lane
April 3: Marvin Ridge Road

Though the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has collared 50 bobcats as part of an effort launched earlier this year to track the animals, none were caught in traps in New Canaan, Halm said. “They’re too smart,” she said. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Animal 411, News, Our Animals, Allyson Halm, Animal Control, bobcats

New Canaan Dog Banned from Spencer’s Run After Yet Another Attack

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Town officials have banned a New Canaan dog with a history of aggression from Spencer’s Run after the beast attacked a fellow canine there last month, documents show. The most recent incident involving ‘Kadydid’ or just ‘Kady,’ a 40- to 50-pound border collie-Australian shepherd mix, unfolded on the morning of Feb. 28 (a Wednesday), according to a police incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a Freedom of Information Act request. After initially berating and hanging up on the head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section, a woman with a Cockapoo (Cocker Spaniel and poodle mix) named ‘Bandit’ phoned Officer Allyson Halm back and explained that as she entered Spencer’s Run, she spotted another woman “holding a dog by the collar near the gate entrance.”

The complainant “asked the woman if her dog [Kady] would be OK with her [own] dog and the woman answered yes,” the report said. Yet after entering and walking away from Kady, that dog once released “ran toward Bandit and attacked him.”

The victim dog’s owner was “extremely upset,” according to Halm’s report and “after a brief exchange, the woman left the park with the offending dog.”

Kady’s owner, Helen Gilbert, told police during an interview that Kady “will become assertive when new dogs enter the park” and that she “will ask those people to wait before entering so she can leash her dog.”

“Gilbert further related that she did not have time to leash her dog when this new dog entered, at which time ‘Kady’ went after the new dog. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Animal 411, News, Our Animals, Public Safety, Allyson Halm, Animal Control, Kit Devereaux, Spencer's Run

Animal Cruelty: Guilty Plea, Suspended Prison Sentence for Man in Whose Care New Canaan Dog Died

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The Darien man charged with animal cruelty after a golden retriever died while in the care of his pet boarding business entered a guilty plea Friday and was given a suspended jail sentence and put on probation for two years. Terry Burns, 44, was also fined and agreed to donate $1,000 to a Humane Society. Part of the conditions of his probation are to not work in any job with animals or with the treatment or care of animals. He also will be evaluated by a psychiatrist or psychologist. The father of two young children apologized in court to the New Canaan woman who owned the retriever. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Animal 411, News, Our Animals, Public Safety, Terry Burns