Animal 411

Teens on Lakeview Avenue Throw Rocks at Kitten

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New Canaan Police last weekend recovered a kitten that a group of teenage boys had been pelting with rocks in a housing complex up on Lakeview Avenue and placed it with an animal adoption agency, officials said. At about 4:15 p.m. Saturday, a Canaan Parish woman phoned police to report teenage boys throwing rocks at the young cat, according to a police report. Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said the kitten was a female gray tiger-type cat, about five or six months old. Officials were unable to address the teens directly, Kleinschmitt said. “Animal cruelty is unacceptable,” she said.

Animal 411

Elusive Goose at Field Club Is Dangerously Tangled in Fishing Wire

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Officials at the New Canaan Field Club are trying to secure a female goose in that small front pond there long enough to undo a fishing line now caught around its leg, causing the bird to limp and threatening serious physical damage. The club’s secretary, Karen Stewart, said she spotted the familiar goose limping badly Monday and immediately took steps to figure out how to help. She and club Manager Tom Brown contacted the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control unit. Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said geese are visual and if they don’t recognize someone (like her) then they stay away. So, she left a net behind with Brown to try and catch the bird.

Animal 411

Puppy Survives Romp through Main Street Traffic

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Update 3 p.m.

This dog’s owner is in fact a St. John’s Place resident known to Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt, who returned the puppy there. Original Article

A puppy spotted running at the busy, dangerous Main Street intersection by God’s Acre is in the care of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control unit after a harrowing downtown romp Tuesday afternoon. Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said the puppy that she eventually secured at around 12:45 p.m.—a Lhasa Apso mix of some kind—might belong to a St. John’s Place resident.

Animal 411

Resident Fined after Dog Attacks Leashed Swiss Mountain Dogs on Turtleback

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A New Canaan resident has been fined after his dog ran off property and attacked two others walking past. Nobody was hurt in the July 11 incident on Turtleback Road, according to New Canaan’s Animal Control officer. At about 1:23 p.m., a pit bull ran off of its property and went after a pair of Swiss Mountain Dogs being leash-walked on the road. Those two laid down in submission and the pit bull eventually was scared back onto its own property by another neighbor, said Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. Apparently, the invisible fence at the attacking dog’s house had been broken by a landscaper.

Animal 411

Fledgling Hawk Enters Screened-In Porch on Shadow Lane

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Police responded to a report this month that a fledgling red-tailed hawk had flown through a screen and onto a porch—a practice that Animal Control officials say typically happens in New Canaan when the birds see food they want, including domestic pets. This incident happened around 2 p.m. on July 7 up at Shadow Lane, a dead end off of Carter Street behind Hoyt Farms.

In this case, the mother hawk probably kicked the fledgling out of her nest, according to Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. “Of course, it’s learning to fly so it hasn’t quite mastered the flap your wings thing yet, and it kind of dive-bombs,” Kleinschmitt said. A hawk often if it sees food on a porch will fly toward a screen claws first and zip right in, she said. “We had one that into a screened-in porch after a Chihuahua once,” Kleinschmitt said, referring to an incident off of Jelliff Mill Road.