‘Everything and Anything Is To Be Expected’: Springtime Wildlife in New Canaan [Q&A]

With warmer weather finally arriving, New Canaan is seeing changes in the behavior of its wildlife, as well as the types of species that residents can expect to encounter with spring’s official start on Tuesday. We put some questions about the changes to Office Sean Godejohn, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. Here’s our exchange. ***

New Canaanite: We’re getting some warm days this week. What kind of new wildlife should New Canaanites expect to start seeing?

Missing Collie, 12, Is Found Safe on Thursday Afternoon [UPDATED]

Update 3:30 p.m. Thursday

Dash Murray has been found in the woods, muddy but OK, and safely returned home. Original Story

The owners of a 12-year-old collie are asking for help after he went missing around 7:30 a.m. Thursday on Carriage Lane, behind West School. Dash is very friendly and though he is wearing an invisible fence collar, there’s no ID on it, according to his owner, Chip Murray. The dog did go missing once before in January but was located quickly near Frogtown Road, Murray said. Dash is chipped and the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section has been notified, he said.

New Canaan Police and Fire Team Up To Rescue ‘Roscoe’ the Cat, Reunite Him with Local Family

New Canaan’s emergency responders teamed up Sunday to rescue a cat and return him to his home. At about 8:22 a.m. on March 3, New Canaan Police Officer Kelly Coughlin was called to the lobby of the department’s temporary headquarters downtown on a report of a found cat, according to an incident report obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a public records request. There, Coughlin learned that town resident Gail Hart turned in an orange cat that had become stuck up a tree in the area of Mariomi Road near Hickok Road, according to the report. Members of the New Canaan Fire Department rescued the animal, which Hart thought might be hers since she’s missing an orange cat, the report said. But it wasn’t—the rescued cat was “long, bigger than average and looked well taken care of,” Coughlin said in the report.

Black Bear Sighted Tuesday on Ludlowe Road Property

A black bear was seen Tuesday night on an eastern New Canaan property that had already seen a bear on it this year. In March, a bear was seen on Ludlowe Road, apparently attracted to a bird feeder, officials have said. On Nov. 27, a black bear was photographed at the same residence—the first reported sighting in New Canaan since a bear was seen in Irwin Park in August. A bear and four cubs also had been spotted on Valley Road in June.

Police: Uptick in Bobcat Sightings in New Canaan

Police say New Canaan is seeing an uptick in bobcat sightings. 

A top-predator in Connecticut that feeds on rabbits, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, voles, white-tailed deer and birds—and sometimes unsupervised domestic animals such as small livestock and poultry, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection—bobcats typically shy away from people. “When seen, do not approach them,” New Canaan Police said in a press release. Bobcats began to appear with more frequency in New Canaan around 2014, and since then officials have said they’ve seen what appear to be families of bobcats establishing dens here. Twice in 2020—in January and December, a pair of the normally reclusive animals were photographed on Marvin Ridge Road properties. A photograph taken two years ago of a pair of bobcats casually walking around a New Norwalk Road residential property concerned officials that the animals are becoming too familiar with humans. 

“Bobcats are by nature wary of people and pose little threat to public safety or human health,” New Canaan Police said in the release.