Family Dachshund Killed­­––

‘A Different Bark’ Warns Of

Coyotes On the Prowl

By Dottie Evans

On Friday evening February 4, at 5:15 pm, Leslie Troy of Great Ring Road in Sandy Hook had let the family’s two dachshunds, Pepper and Schatzie, outside in the back yard for what she calls “their last hurrah.”

Immediately, she and her husband Patrick heard a terrific commotion as the two dogs spotted an intruder.

“We heard a different bark,” Mrs Troy said, that sounded urgent enough to send her husband running to the window. “He saw two coyotes prowling along the stone wall in back of the yard. Most likely, they were searching for the chipmunks that live there.”

In keeping with their breed, the Troys’ two dachshunds were displaying the typically brave and feisty behavior that endears them to their owners. Not only were they determined to rout interlopers from their home territory, they seemed oblivious to the coyotes’ clear advantage in size and strength.

“Pepper came the closest, and one of the two coyotes turned and grabbed him by the back and shook him hard, totally crushing him,” Ms Troy said.

It was lucky their three small children heard the attack but did not see it, she added.

When the coyotes took off into the woods, Patrick and Leslie Troy rushed outside to rescue Pepper, who was lying on the snowy ground having sustained what she called “a horrible wound.” Coyote tracks on the crusty snow all around left further evidence of the encounter.

“We took him to the emergency vet in Danbury but, unfortunately, nothing could be done to save him. All his ribs were crushed and he was paralyzed,” Mrs Troy said.

Since Pepper was put down, the family has rallied around their remaining dachshund, Schatzie. They are trying to help him forget the loss of his companion, although apparently, he still cries for him at night.

“We’ve changed his routine and bought him a new bed. He’s hanging in there. The children are giving him a lot of extra attention,” she said.

The Troys want their neighbors to know about what happened –– that there are coyotes out there, and to be careful when allowing small pets to go outside unattended.

“These coyotes hadn’t been in our yard before, though we have seen them move through the neighborhood. We’ve also seen them dead on the road. We have open space behind the property –– about ten or 15 acres of it surrounded by homes. It’s important for people to know about this.”

Another Sandy Hook Sighting

Two days later and the other side of Route 34, Bob and Lauren Elliott of Cobblers Mill Road spotted a coyote in their back yard. It was 8 am on Sunday morning, February 5, and the animal was scratching in the dirt and grass as though hunting for small rodents or grubs.

“He was sort of jumping around as though he had caught something,” said Mrs Elliott, who watched him through her kitchen window while her husband Bob grabbed the camera and snapped a photograph of him.

The Elliotts’ backyard abuts the 100-acre Appleberry Farm where there is plenty of open space and woods to support an abundance of wildlife –– perfect coyote hunting grounds.

“He looked very healthy. I don’t know what he was after because we don’t put out bird food,” said Mrs Elliott.

“He had the most unusual way of walking, not like a dog at all. Sort of loping with long strides and his bushy tail held pretty straight back,” she added.

Their children, Tommy, 6, and Sean, 9, also were able to observe the coyote from inside the house. They decided it was too spooky for comfort, and they were glad when it disappeared back into the woods.

The Elliotts do not have any pets.

Nearly 5,000 Coyotes In Connecticut

When told about these two incidents, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Wildlife Biologist Paul Rego said that what homeowners are experiencing in Newtown was “part of the whole picture” where coyotes are concerned.

“Over the years, we have had areas where there are more reports or more problems with them in certain places. It seems to happen particularly where there are coyotes living in developed areas that include open space as part of their territory.

“We have received reports of coyotes nearby homes, and it’s not just the winter weather or snow-cover that seems to be the cause. They are spotted during all seasons, including spring and summer.”

Right now, he explained, the coyotes are breeding the next generation, so they may be sticking close to their dens. These wandering individuals might be younger coyotes that are striking out on their own. He noted that coyotes do not hibernate.

The first rule for homeowners, he said, is to be aware and careful of small animals that are left outside unattended. The average coyote weighs from 30 to 40 pounds, and it tries to avoid humans; the individual animal’s temperament may vary from skittish to bold.

“If there is a true coyote problem, the next step is legal hunting or trapping. The latter is very restricted and highly regulated. As far as hunting is concerned, all that is needed is a person to be licensed and to have the landowner’s permission.”

Mr Rego said hunting or trapping might be an effective alternative if there are particular coyotes that become very bold.

“We estimate there are roughly around 4,000 to 5,000 coyotes in Connecticut and the population is close to stable. They’ve been here a long time –– more like 50 years,” Mr Rego said.

‘Coyotes Have Always Been Here’

Peter Trull, biologist, field naturalist, and educator, believes the eastern coyote may be a cross between a western breed that recently migrated eastward and a species that has “always been here,” as he writes in his 2002 book titled Coyotes In The Neighborhood.

“They were thriving in the remote Adirondack Mountains of New York long before European settlement…Fossil evidence shows the coyote presence in North America 10,000 years ago… and further back,” and he adds the following comments, taken from the book:

Wolf was the word that early Europeans used to describe this animal when they arrived in the New World in the early 1600s. The distinction between wolf and coyote was not recognized until after the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804–1806, when the gray wolf and a smaller brush wolf were described as distinctly different animals. Since the word coyote originates from the Nahuatl Indian word coyotl, it is unlikely that a name derived from Mexican Indians would have reached the eastern states before the mid-nineteenth century. Therefore, any wild canid seen in the eastern United States prior to the late 1800s was called a wolf.

Concerning their relationships with humans, Mr Trull makes the following observations:

The coyote can be found in all habitats –– yards and gardens, along the interstates and highways, in the woods or on the beaches, from the deepest woods to the inner city.

The coyote is a path follower. He does not want to bushwhack through thickets. He will typically take the path of least resistance. When a coyote walks down your neighborhood street, it is not so much because there are kids and pets there but because the street is a thoroughfare. For the coyote, it is a clear route between point A and point B.