Coyotes attacked and killed at least seven small dogs across Connecticut and injured several others during February, according to state and local wildlife officials.

The deaths of two dogs in Simsbury were attributed to coyotes. Fairfield, Milford, Greenwich, South Windsor and Wallingford each had one dog reported killed by coyotes.

Another dog was reported injured by a coyote in Milford, and in Lakeville, dogs being walked at night fought with a coyote that appeared to be sick. A large dog fought and killed a coyote in Norfolk, but not before a cat was killed, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The Fairfield Police Department's animal control division reported that on the night of Feb. 1 a beagle-pug mix disappeared from the yard of a residence on Mountain Laurel Road.

The dog's owner, Katie Graham, said in an interview last week that had she known the dangers posed by coyotes she would not have let her 3-year-old dog, Sammy, out at night. Graham said she was putting her children to bed and sent Sammy out into the yard about 8 p.m. A short time later, she heard her dog barking, then it was quiet. When she went to bring the dog in, it had vanished.

Graham searched the neighborhood by car but found no trace of Sammy. The car's headlights, however, did expose a coyote roaming in the neighborhood in the predawn darkness.

Days later, she found the dog's carcass in the woods, partially eaten.

"She was mauled by what my vet confirmed was a coyote," Graham, 37, said. "I was horrified and angry."

"They know this is a problem," she said.

In Simsbury, a Boston terrier and a Shiba Inu were killed in separate attacks by coyotes on Pinnacle Mountain Road, said Animal Control Officer Mark Rudewicz. One of the dogs disappeared, and the other was injured so badly it had to be euthanized, he said.

"Coyotes will lie in wait at the tree line to charge and grab," Rudewicz said. "In both cases that's what they did."

Coyotes are territorial when it comes to dogs and it is not unusual for them to frequent suburban yards, said Chris Vann, a wildlife biologist with DEEP.

The months of January, February and March tend to be more dangerous for dogs because it is mating season for the state's flourishing coyote population. Vann blamed "territorial breeding aggressiveness" for the attacks.

"They are not hunting," Vann said of the coyotes. "It's more of a turf war."

In September, a Great Dane was reported killed by a large coyote in Newington.

The coyotes pose a significant risk not only to dogs but also to other small domestic animals like cats, Vann said, especially at night.

"The general story is usually a small dog, let out at night, never to be found again," Vann said. In cases where a dog just disappears, "you can't be 100 percent certain it was a coyote. [But] all the signs point that way."

Complaints about coyotes, a non-native species to Connecticut that has been growing in population over the past 60 years as forests have reclaimed once open farmland, are becoming common.

In 1990, Vann logged "close to 20" calls from residents concerned about coyotes. By 2009, that number had jumped to 359 coyote complaints at the DEEP Hartford office. Those complaints include everything from reports of an animal in the yard, to attacks on pets.

"The number of dog kills over the last 10-15 years has grown significantly," Vann said. "It is a significant issue. It happens all across the state, over and over again."

Coyotes are often described as "opportunistic predators" that dine mostly on mice, woodchucks, squirrels, rabbits and other small animals. There are few natural predators to limit the population, although hunting is allowed through most of the year.

Coyotes are generally not considered a threat to adult humans, but the same cannot be said of children. In June 2010, two small girls were mauled by coyotes but survived in separate attacks in Rye, N.Y.

The DEEP recommends keeping small domestic animals indoors at night and using electric fencing around livestock.

"The best protection is to be informed and take precautions to protect domestic animals," said Wildlife Biologist Paul Rego of the state's Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area. "I don't think we will see a day when there are no coyotes in Connecticut."

Graham said that after she lost her dog to a coyote attack she heard from many people about coyote sightings and missing dogs in Fairfield County. She won't allow her children to walk alone in the neighborhood at dusk.

"I'm too afraid," she said. "There needs to be a huge campaign in this area. ... If I had known about this problem, I would never have let my dog out at night."