Family warns of coyotes after beloved dog’s death
GREENWICH — A local family is mourning the loss of Harley, their 4-yearold toy poodle, and are warning neighbors to be on the lookout for coyotes after they believe one of them killed their dog.
Heronvue Road resident Orna Gusinski said her husband let Harley out to use the bathroom Thursday night — the same way they do every night. She took a shower and got ready for bed.
After a few minutes, she said her husband, Ilya
Gusinski, went out to look for the Harley. It was a little before midnight.
“I put on my parka coat, my rubber black rain boots, and wrapped a warm scarf around my wet hair, and joined him outside,” she said in an email.
Gusinski said she was the one who found the dog, who had suffered a wound to her neck.
“I screamed to my husband to come over and broke up with tears,” she said.
They weren’t sure at first what kind of predator had attacked and killed their dog, but later found a footprint believed to belong to a coyote, Gusinski said.
Harley was taken to be cremated at an animal hospital, Gusinski said. She said she wanted to warn other residents of coyotes in the area in memory of her beloved dog.
Police in the region have warned of coyote attacks on pet dogs. In Stamford, police warned of an “aggressive” coyote in early December reported to have killed a dog in the city’s Cove neighborhood.
Coyotes were first reported in the state in the 1950s after they expanded eastward from their territories out west, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Eastern coyotes are typically larger than their western cousins. The canines have adapted to human spaces like suburbs, office parks and beaches.
Outdoor cats and dogs under 25 pounds are vulnerable to coyote attacks, DEEP’s website advises, and animals should be supervised when outdoors.