By JOHN HOWELL

Sister pups thought to be black coyotes, as unusual as that is, kicked up a lot of neighborhood and media attention after multiple sightings in Oakland Beach last week.

In what Mayor Frank Picozzi characterized a “comedic mistake,” police ended up making two arrests,  the city condemned  a house and seven dogs and 19 cats ended up at the Warwick Animal shelter.

It was the “coyotes” that captured the spotlight. Photographs of the animals were posted on social media that followed with a Facebook advisory by Warwick Police warning people to keep a watchful eyes on their pets, avoid contact with coyotes and not to feed them and they would leave. Mayor Picozzi followed up with posts on his Facebook page saying the “black coyotes” were in Oakland Beach and reiterating the police cautionary measures.

All the coverage caught the attention of a Woonsocket man who contacted police to report he had entrusted the animals to people living at 56 Powhatan St. in Oakland Beach. Police and the RI Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded where they found deplorable conditions, but no animals. Warwick Minimum Housing personnel tracked down the dogs and cats also thought to have  been kept at 56 Powhatan to a house on Seaview Drive. They were subsequently taken to the Animal Shelter.

The city’s animal control officers captured the two “black coyotes” delivering them to the Warwick Shelter.  They were tranquilized by the SPCA. The city condemned the Powhatan Street house. It has since been boarded up and taped off.

Amanda Bray, 29, and Andrew Sanville, 32, of the Powhatan address,  were taken into custody and each charged with a count each of Animal Cruelty, Care of Dogs, Compulsory Rabies Vaccination, and two counts of Abandonment of Animals (the supposed black coyotes). Bray was brought before a Bail Commissioner and released on Personal Recognizance. Sanville was held as a probation violator, according to police.

“They could always be coyotes,” Ann Corvin, animal shelter director, said Friday. She doubts that is the case until DNA testing shows otherwise. She believes the animals are a hybrid, wolf- mix. She said with all the publicity she was kept busy answering calls from people wanting to see them; offering to adopt them and even a California organization with a local connection saying they deal with mixed wolf breeds, which are illegal to own in Rhode Island, and would take them.

She described them as “flighty,” feral, and avoiding human contact. She estimated their age at 6 months and thought if given the opportunity they would flee. She said they are eating.  As for the long term for Bella and Libby (as they were named by their previous owner), Corvin said after spaying they would be released to a sanctuary. On Friday, she and those at the animal shelter were bathing and tending to the dogs and cats taken from the Oakland Beach house. The animal counts between police and the shelter differ. The police report relocating two dogs and 13 cats. Corvin said seven dogs and 19 cats, which includes kittens.