Animal 411

Snapping Turtle Crosses Old Norwalk Road

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A snapping turtle crossing Old Norwalk road last week was helped along its way by New Canaan police alerted to the reptile’s slow progress across the busy street, officials say. The turtle was spotted at about 6:10 p.m. on June 9 (a Monday), in the area of 290 Old Norwalk Road, according to a police report. Now’s the time when the turtles are coming out of the water to lay their eggs—the animals’ nesting season in this area is late May through June, according to Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. “If you come across one and see where he’s moving, you don’t turn him the other way because he’ll just turn around again,” she said. “The turtle is either coming from laying its eggs or going out to dry land to lay, so don’t put it back in the water before it’s ready.

Animal 411

Police: New Canaan Woman Bit by Dog at Waveny, Owner Walked Away

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A New Canaan woman told police she was bit in the back by a dog as she walked past the animal on a recent afternoon near Spencer’s Run, officials say. It happened near (but not inside) the dog run at Waveny as the woman walked past three German shepherd dogs who appeared to be undergoing training with their owner, the complainant said. When one dog lunged and bit her below the right shoulder, the owner—a woman described as being white, in her mid-50s and wearing a pink short-sleeved shirt—said nothing and offered no apology, according to a police report. The dog is described as tan with a black patch. Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said there’s little she can do except try to assess who the owner is by interviewing the victim.

Animal 411

Coyote Sightings in New Canaan Continue in June

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Police last week received a report of a coyote way up Oenoke Ridge—near Scotts Corners in New York—the first sighting of June in what animal control is calling a relatively active season for the species. “This was a large coyote and the people there are concerned because there are domestic pets and kids around,” Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt of the New Canaan Police Department said of the mid-morning June 1 sighting on Oenoke. (Coyotes fear humans and do not attack children, officials say, though they do see smaller domestic pets such as cats or small dogs as food.)

In all, police received reports of seven sightings in May, including one where a coyote attacked a small dog and was carrying it away when a golden retriever also in the family ran after it, prompting the coyote to drop the smaller animal. Coyotes, which mate for life, generally mate and den in March and April, so that lone males generally are seen out and about through April and May, gathering food for the females who have given birth. Here’s an updated interactive map of coyote sightings in New Canaan in 2014.

Animal 411

Millport Avenue Cats Fight, Human Scratched and Bit

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A Millport Avenue woman has undergone a series of preemptive rabies shots after a cat whose vaccinations had lapsed scratched in bit her following a scrap with her own feline, police said. It happened at the Millport Apartments around 2:30 p.m. on May 25 (a Sunday), according to New Canaan Police Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt. The visiting cat entered the victim’s apartment directly behind her as the woman returned home and got into a fight with her own cat, Kleinschmitt said. The woman was bit and scratched trying to shoo away the visitor—a cat that belongs to another resident at the housing complex. The report came in a few days after the incident, on May 29, police said.

Animal 411

New Canaan Kids Come Upon Sleeping Raccoon in Family Car, Think It’s a Coyote

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New Canaan police on a recent morning prodded awake a raccoon that had climbed into a family’s SUV overnight, then ate a lot of junk food inside the vehicle and fell asleep on the driver’s side floor. The call came in as a report of a “coyote”—from the kids who came upon the slumbering animal as they climbed into the family car to get to school, according to a police report. Police responded to the call at about 9:06 a.m. on May 22 (a Thursday). “We found a raccoon there, and there was food everywhere, so obviously he had made himself right at home,” Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said. “He got into a soda bottle.