Allyson Halm

Dog Attack on Avalon Drive East Results in Verbal Warning [UPDATED]

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New Canaan Police issued a verbal warning to the owners of two Avalon Drive East dogs after one of them (the dogs) bit a neighbor’s canine in the back. The head of the Police Department’s Animal Control section had a difficult time connecting with the owners of the attacking dog immediately after the incident on the afternoon of Jan. 16 (a Wednesday). 

The owner of the victim animal, a Brussels Griffon named ‘Enzo,’ told police that his son had been walking his own family’s two dogs outside their apartment complex when the attacking beast grabbed Enzo and began to shake him, according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a Freedom of Information request. The individual walking the attacking dog, described as a boy, could not control his own dogs and the skirmish left Enzo with a puncture wound in his back, police according to the report. When Officer Allyson Halm, the head of Animal Control, tried to get contact information for the attacking dog’s owners, a representative of Avalon’s business office told her he was not at liberty to provide it, the report said.

Allyson Halm

Animal Calls: Fox in Mudroom, Nuisance Dog, $92 Ticket for Roaming

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What follows is a summary of recent calls fielded by the Animal Control section of the New Canaan Police Department. 

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A Buttery Road woman phoned police at about 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 19 to report that a fox had entered her home with her two dogs after the pets had been let out into the yard. The fox lay down in the mudroom and started playing with one of the dogs’ toys, according to a police report. The woman took her dogs, a golden retriever as well as a puppy, out of the room and closed a door to ensure the fox could not get deeper into the house. 

Asked about the incident, Officer Allyson Halm, head of Animal Control, said it’s abnormal for a fox to behave in such a way, and that it could indicate early-stage rabies or that the animal has been fed by a human. The fox left the house before police arrived.

Animal 411

New Canaan Woman Charged with Animal Cruelty

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Fairfield police on Tuesday arrested a 31-year-old New Canaan woman by warrant and charged her with five counts of animal cruelty, two months after finding the remains of dogs in crates inside the Fairfield home where she had been residing. Heidi Lueders, now of Marshall Ridge Road, additionally was charged with first-degree criminal damage to a landlord’s property by a tenant, according to a press release issued by Fairfield Police Capt. Robert Kalamaras. 

Police launched an investigation on the afternoon of Nov. 14 after responding to a report of animal cruelty at 37 Prince St. in Fairfield. There, officers found “several animal carcasses, which are believed to be canine remains, in crates within the residence,” Kalmaras said in the release. 

“Fairfield Animal Control Officers and Detectives responded to the house to further investigate.

Animal 411

‘A Tame But Desperate Kitty’: Lost or Dumped Cat Appears Christmas Eve at Transfer Station

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A cat that may have been dumped around Christmas at the Transfer Station on Lakeview Avenue is now in custody of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section, officials said. Officer Allyson Halm, head of Animal Control, said she first noticed the orange-and-white cat on Christmas Eve, “cuddled against the wall” next to NCPD’s animal shelter, which is located at the Transfer Station. “It was there all day, it would talk to me and wink, but scatter when I approached,” Halm said. “Of course I fed him, or her, and it ate like it was starving.”

Over the holiday week, Halm found the cat waiting for her each day and the animal would again “eat like it hadn’t seen a meal.”

“I was able to get closer each day, it was obvious this was a tame but desperate kitty,” she said. 

Finally, on Monday, Halm managed to catch the cat and the animal is now inside the shelter staying warm. It isn’t clear just how the cat got to the shelter, whether the animal was dumped or lost, or how old or what sex the animal is. 

If no one claims the cat, it could become adoptable as soon as Jan.

Allyson Halm

‘Very Hard To Watch’: Deer Dragging ‘Leghold Trap’ Seen in New Canaan

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Officials say they’re concerned for the welfare of a deer that appears to be dragging a “leghold trap” from one of its hind legs. The young buck dragging the trap was spotted Tuesday on Pequot Lane, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. “He wasn’t moving too quickly,” Halm told NewCanaanite.com. “It was a pretty large trap and you could see the leg was swollen compared to the other one.”

The traps use a footplate and curved jaws that snap onto animals that spring them. Halm said the traps are not supposed to be placed where deer can get into them.