What Goes There?—

Animal Prints Intrigue

Sandy Hook Couple

By Kendra Bobowick

The sun had not damaged the dried paw prints, but Layard Campbell still could not guess what had left large marks on his driveway Thursday night, August 21. Fine silt from a flower garden had become clotted by early evening dew and clung to the paws of a visitor that left Mr Campbell and his wide Ruth to wonder. Against the blacktop of their driveway were the light tan prints that entered alongside a flowerbed, traveled to a faucet, and marked a leisurely trail toward the street.

“‘How big is this thing?’ you’ll say. Well, [the footprint was] about as big as a tea cup,” he remarked. Standing outside his Mountain Laurel Lane home on Friday, he leaned down to place the porcelain rim upside down beside a paw print. His wife later said that when she measured the marks they were roughly 3¾ inches long and wide.

As Ms Campbell unpacked groceries and her husband spoke about some of his hobbies, they both glanced often at the dried prints where something had stepped onto the blacktop from the backyard.

“It must have had a good time; it enjoyed a walk around,” Mr Campbell said. Looking past the yard and flower gardens, he stared into the trees. “There is a hollow in back, and quite a bit of woods.” Was it a dog? Was it a bobcat? Coyotes could also have loped through the property.

“I really don’t know. I don’t think there is a dog that big,” Ms Campbell thought. Mr Campbell speculated, “Most dogs would stay home.” Noticing that the prints traveled from the head of the drive toward a faucet that may have been leaking, then away form the house and out to the street, Mr Campbell concluded, “That’s the kind of thing a wild animal would do, search.” If not a domestic canine, then what?

“If it’s a cat, it’s a very big cat,” Ms Campbell said. She thinks that a thirsty creature had been drawn to the leaky faucet near the garage. Thinking about her pet housecat, she said, “It’s a good thing the cat was in.”

The last year has found reports and sightings of moose and a bear in Newtown, and earlier this summer one woman’s golden retriever had been killed by what many speculated was coyotes, although no one saw the attack or could say with certainty what had killed the pet. At the time, speculation had turned toward mountain lions. The state’s Department of Environmental Protection has always stressed, however, that the animals, also referred to as cougars, are not in the area. The Bee sent photos of the footprints in the Campbells’ driveway to the state for identification. In an e-mail reply to the newspaper Friday afternoon, August 22, Communications Director Dennis Schain wrote, “One of our key wildlife folks weighed in with a strong conclusion that what you have are dog tracks.”

 Mr Schain was referring to scientist Paul Rego, who had responded simply, “Dog tracks.” Like the Campbells, Mr Rego had noted that the prints were not impressions pressed into soil, but stamps left on a hard surface — leaving no hint about the type of claw pattern the animal had.

Mr Rego wrote: “Claws don’t show because it is a stamp. Toes are widely splayed and along with their overall size this rules out coyote. A coyote track would have had outer toes almost ‘following’ the middle toes. Mountain lion — while none in CT — would have a larger foot pad relative to the toe pads, toe pads not as symmetrical and would show two lobes on front of foot pad and three on rear of footpad. Wolf might have a very similar track but they don’t often trot down pavement in Connecticut.”

Animal Control Officer Carolee Mason has seen several large dogs at the pound this summer, but has had no recent report of a missing pet in the Mountain Laurel Lane vicinity.

What meandered through the Campbells’ yard? Ruth and Layard may never know for sure.