Jim Doughty said he is installing security cameras around the pens that house his two wolf hybrids after the animals somehow got out Saturday night.
“I believe someone let them out,” he said Tuesday.
Darlene Terry, a neighbor, said one of Doughty’s animals killed one of her chickens.
“I was sitting at my computer editing photos Sunday morning when I heard a commotion. I looked out and saw this huge wolf. I later learned it was one of Jim’s dogs,” said Terry. “By the time I got out of the front door, I saw he had a chicken in his mouth.”
Terry, a professional photographer, said her chickens are free range animals that roam around her back yard, and sometimes go into the yard of her neighbor, Alex Cunningham. She said she used to have seven chickens but three were recently taken by a fox.
She said after she saw Doughty’s wolf hybrid run off with her chicken, she and Cunningham went to Doughty’s residence and complained.
Doughty said he didn’t know his animals had gotten out until his neighbors arrived at his door.
The town’s animal control officer was also notified of the event
“He said someone had let the dog out and that is possible,” said Terry.
Doughty, a self-employed contractor, said someone had unlatched a pen door and moved a large rock that blocked the entrance. He said it was impossible for the animals to open the entrance.
After the incident, Doughty said he screwed the latch and the door shut. “After the neighbors left, the animals returned to their pens,” he said.
He said he has offered to compensate his neighbor for the loss of her chicken.
Doughty is the focus of a community controversy after he proposed to build a refuge for wolf hybrid animals on his nine-acre property off Poor Farm Road in Bristol.
On June 2 the Bristol Board of Selectmen hosted a forum where community members could offer their opinions about Doughty’s proposal for a refuge. Most speakers, including some self-proclaimed advocates for the protection of wolf hybrids, opposed Doughty’s proposal saying the animals were a threat to neighbors.
Despite her loss, Terry said she likes Doughty and loves his animals.
“They are beautiful. I love them, but I don’t think his idea (for a refuge) is a good idea in our neighborhood,” she said.
Doughty said he plans to install security cameras to monitor the animals inside the enclosure and to watch the outside fence. In addition, he said he plans to install an electric fence around his property.
He said he plans to put the video of his animals inside their pens on his Facebook page.
The Bristol Selectman scheduled a July 20 secret ballot vote on a proposed ordinance that would bar Doughty’s plans to build a wolf hybrid refuge.
