By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jackie Tepe and her children, Matt, 8, and Emma, 7, are afraid of wild dogs in the Wyoming area. Tepe is afraid to walk her golden retriever, Penny, and the kids won't leave the front porch. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

WYOMING - A pack of stray dogs that has menaced residents and may have killed a deer in this suburb has made some residents afraid to go out alone at night or let their children play outside.

Since summer, residents have been increasingly concerned about growing numbers of stray dogs running in packs across yards.

Police set a trap outside a house Tuesday after two strays charged when Hidden Valley Lane resident Amie Delworth and her toddler went into their front yard.

"We ran back in right away," Delworth said. She called police, but the dogs scattered when officers arrived. "I felt threatened," Delworth said. She says police are trying to solve the problem, but "it's hard."

Officials agree.

"They're terrorizing our neighborhood," said Wyoming Police Chief Jackie Roy Monday night after a City Council meeting in which several people complained that more needed to be done.

Police have been working with the local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to track and capture the dogs, but "they're hard to predict," Roy said Tuesday. "They're not in the same location all the time."

WHAT TO DO

What to do if confronted by a strange dog, according to the local Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Stand still. "Absolutely, don't run," says SPCA operations manager Andy Mahlman. "Dogs see that as a tempting target." Don't look it in the eye. That can be a challenge to a dog. Yell loudly, "Go home!" or "Go away!" Back away slowly, facing the dog. Be very cautious about helping your dog if another one attacks. Mahlman says pet owners often are injured trying to separate the two.

Wyoming police say they may have to shoot the animals if other measures fail.

It's not just Wyoming - which has wooded areas attractive to deer and other wildlife, as well as to people - that's had to deal with wild-animal problems in recent months.

Blue Ash has had coyote problems, as has Springdale. Kentucky officials think there may be at least two coyote populations in Kenton County that farmers say are killing turkeys and sheep.

The SPCA says it has set a trap in Finneytown to catch the same pack of dogs that may roam from Lockland to Springfield Township.

Cindy Waxman of Reily Road says the pack of dogs she's seen has been growing since February - from two or three to as many as five. She lives on several acres and owns a 105-pound Weimaraner that used to have the run of the property, bounded by an electric dog fence.

"It's changed my life because I'm afraid to leave him out now. If they're going to go after a deer, they could go after a large dog."

Four weeks ago, Maynard Johnson of Hidden Valley was awakened by the sounds of barking and bellowing for an hour. In the morning, he found an eight-point buck dead in the creek bed behind his house.

He's sure it was the dogs.

On Oct. 23, Johnson e-mailed Mayor David Savage: "A bunch of dogs that are able to bring down a buck this size could bring down an adult human, and certainly bring down a child or a pet."

Jackie Tepe of Brocdorf Drive said she had a frightening encounter with the pack while walking her golden retriever, Penny, and said her third-grade son has seen the dogs outside the window at Hilltop Elementary. Now, he refuses to play in his back yard because "he's scared to death," she said.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com