Feral beagles terrorize eastern Long Island

There’s very little out in Orient Point- a ferry, a lighthouse, some sand.

And apparently now there are packs of feral beagles terrorizing the northern, easternmost point of Long Island. Well, perhaps not packs. It might have been only four. And they might have only approached a woman once, in the middle of the night in sub-zero temperatures, seeking food and perhaps shelter. But feral beagles! On Long Island!

A local woman spoke to the NY Post about the beagle situation:

“I grabbed the two dogs and ran inside,” she said. “I just closed the door when they jumped at the door, and they broke that aluminum portion underneath.”

The attack happened in a flash. It was only when the 61-year-old dog lover was safely inside that she made the shocking realization her howling attackers weren’t coyotes or Rottweilers, but were three frothing, short-legged, brown-and-white beagles.

“I thought ‘Why would they be so ferocious?’ The bark that they were barking, like they really wanted to eat me up!” she told The Post.

The Eyewitness News piece goes on to quote a local animal shelter as saying that the beagle issue has persisted on Eastern Long Island (sorry, Peconic County) for the past few years. A spokesperson for the animal shelter opined that the animals have become aggressive because they’re “freezing and starving.” It’s thought the beagles were abandoned by hunters after failing to track rabbits effectively.

A local resident commenting on another post about the beagle plague say the problem has been overstated:

I’m amazed at how popular this story has become and how inaccurate it is. I come from Orient, NY (aka the town this is all supposedly taking place). Its a very small, isolated, rural town.

This is no different than any other case of an abandoned dog. There were 4 small dogs that were abandoned by a hunter (unfortunately, this happens everywhere, all the time) and they approached one woman, once, in search of food. They were brought to the pound for adoption. The end.

Brave souls interested in providing a home, shelter and love to the vicious beagles can contact the Kent Animal Shelter for more information.