Officials: Coyote harassed dog at Shelton walking trail

SHELTON — A coyote harassed a dog on a walking trail at Great Ledge Wednesday morning, officials said, and initially there were reports a human had been attacked.

In a post on Facebook, the Shelton Conservation Department said officials received a report of a coyote aggressively harrying a large, leashed dog on the Recreation Path at Great Ledge.

“This is the area between Oak Valley Road and Wesley Drive where a coyote pair have denned previously,” they said. “The coyote appeared to be attacking the dog, but after the event was over, the dog did not seem to be injured.”

Officials said coyote are very protective of their pups and view other coyotes and dogs as a threat, especially larger ones. They said it is the same location where dog walkers have been escorted off the trails in the last two years, and one large off-leash dog also had been “harried aggressively.”

The Coyote Project, an organization that promotes coexistence with coyotes and other North American predators, said escorting is when coyotes follow humans to ensure they leave their territory.

Shelton officials said the incident was the first recent report of a leashed dog being attacked or harassed, and said dog walkers may want to avoid the area for the next few months, especially early in the morning or late in the evening. They noted denning season is from March to April, and then the coyote family will “hang out in the general area with the parents still being protective a bit longer.”

In an updated post a few hours after the first, Shelton officials said there were two calls to police and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection about the incident Wednesday morning, and may have been about the same incident.