The state is conducting DNA tests on several animals in North Stonington to determine if they are wolf-dog hybrids.
EnCon Police from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection began investigating after reports of several people and animals being attacked by the hybrid wolf-dogs in the North Stonginton area.
According to DEEP, the owner of the animals has been contacted and is cooperating with the investigation. It is illegal to own wolf-dog hybrids in Connecticut.
Residents reported the possible presence of wolf-dogs around Long Pond in North Stonington and Ledyard. The animals reportedly have bitten a bicyclist, threatened another person and attacked at least two horses, The Day of New London reported. One animal killed by a man last month has been confirmed to be a wolf-dog hybrid.
The person who was threatened said three large, white canines without collars surrounded him outside his horse barn last month and he called his neighbor, who brought a shotgun. The man, whom the newspaper did not identify, then shot and killed the animal.
The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, tested samples of the dead animal and determined it was a wolf-dog hybrid.
A veterinarian will now take tissue samples from seven more animals at the home of a man who lives on Lantern Hill Road in North Stonington and send them to the California lab for testing.
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If the test results show the animals are hybrid wolf-dogs, they can be removed from the property, according to DEEP.
