Animal 411

New Canaan Police Impound Small Dog Reported as Found on Route 123

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New Canaan Police have impounded a small, neutered male dog that a Canaan Parish resident reported finding last Saturday afternoon on Route 123. The approximately 1-year-old dog—likely a mixed-breed, such as a Havapoo, Morkie or Havichon—was “frightened and suspicious” at first, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control section. “Now I’m his caretaker and best buddy,” she said. Anyone who recognizes the dog should contact Animal Control at 203-594-3510. 

Halm said she has named him “Vingt”—French for “20,” since he’s the twentieth impound of this fiscal year and arrived in 2020. He’s at widely discussed Animal Control shelter at the Transfer Station.

State: 5 Coyotes Trapped and Killed in New Canaan in October, November

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Five coyotes were trapped and killed in southwestern New Canaan in October and November under a state-issued permit, records show. A raccoon also was caught in the trap and released on site, according to information from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Issued Sept. 23 for the area of Adams Lane after a coyote snatched and killed a small dog outside, the nuisance wildlife control officer’s permit ran through Nov. 30. 

Here’s a summary of the trapper’s work, according to a Nuisance Wildlife Control Special Permit Report submitted to DEEP as required by state regulations:

NewCanaanite.com obtained the report through a public records request. 

State officials originally had issued the permit through Oct.

Allyson Halm

State: Animal Trapping Permit in New Canaan Extended Due to ‘Limited Success’

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State officials say they’ve extended a special permit to trap animals in southwestern New Canaan after an initial five-week period failed to yield results. Issued Sept. 23 for the area of Adams Lane after a coyote snatched and killed a momentarily unwatched small dog there, the nuisance wildlife control officer’s permit now is good through Nov. 30, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials said in response to a public records request from NewCanaanite.com. 

The extension is “due to limited success at the end of the initial period,” Mary Lou Kramer, a paralegal in the DEEP commissioner’s Office of Legal Counsel, said in an email. The trapping permit originally was issued to Tom Logan, Kramer said.

Animal 411

New Canaan Woman Bit by Dogs Sues Neighbor

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Saying she’s suffered permanent scars and anxiety as a result of the attack, a New Canaan woman has sued a neighbor after two dogs bit her on a Sunday morning about two months ago. According to a complaint filed Wednesday on behalf of Benedict Hill Road resident Allyn Holmberg, the two dogs—Sarge and Bane—“suddenly and without warning” on Sept. 15 “while roaming and unleashed.”

The dogs, in the care of next-door neighbor Paul Saitta “attacked without provocation and began to ferociously attack, bite, maul, savage and mutilate the plaintiff, causing severe and permanent injuries,” according to the lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court by attorney Jason Gladstone of New Canaan-based Lampert, Toohey & Rucci LLC. As a direct result of the attack, Holmberg sustained lacerations, abrasions, permanent scarring, severe pain, numbness and sensitivity on her back, buttocks and legs, according to the suit, as well as loss of sleep, headaches, muscle spasms and a “general feeling of malaise.”

Due to those injuries, she also has incurred medical bills, pain and suffering, “mental anguish, mental anxiety and emotional distress” and “has suffered permanent impairment of her ability to carry on life’s activities which she had enjoyed before the attack,” the lawsuit said. The attack also led to a “[p]ermanent and disfiguring scar on her back which will cause great humiliation and embarrassment in the future,” according to the complaint. 

“As a direct result of the attack, the Plaintiff was unable and continues to be unable to enjoy life’s offering and life’s enjoyment,” it said.

Animal 411

Selectmen Divided on Future of Animal Shelter in New Canaan 

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Members of the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday voiced support for two different ways to move forward with the town’s Animal Control shelter, which long has been occupied in a former incinerator building at the dump. That brick structure soon will need a new roof, which two officials say would cost about $75,000 to $80,000 to replace. Selectman Nick Williams raised the issue recently, calling for New Canaan to find better quarters for the lost or abandoned animals that end up in the shelter. During the Board’s special meeting at Town Hall, Selectman Kit Devereaux said response to the issue has generated strong support from concerned residents, and that creation of a new shelter “would be a really great public-private partnership.”

“I want to know if there would be support for that,” Devereaux said. Williams said he agreed, and that he received several calls and emails from residents who want to help.