NAHANT — A wild coyote mauled and killed JJ, a 15-year-old silky terrier, while he was walking on a leash on Colby Way.

JJ’s owners, Chris and Adriana Del Dotto, were walking their 11-pound terrier in front of their house on May 27. They heard JJ scream, and turned around to find that a coyote had their pet in its jaws.

The Del Dottos brought JJ to an emergency animal hospital, where the dog died only a few hours after the attack. In the Facebook group “Nahant Coyote Victims,” Adriana Del Dotto described the coyote as being “extremely aggressive” and unrelenting.

“[It] kept coming towards me after I was able to pick up my dog,” Adriana Del Dotto wrote in the Facebook group.

JJ’s attack marks the latest — but not the first — coyote attack on the peninsula. In 2022, there were three instances in which a pet was taken off its leash by a coyote in Nahant.

On Dec. 7, the Board of Selectmen authorized the payment of federal agents from USDA Wildlife Services to shoot coyotes that have inhabited the area, making the town the first municipality in the Commonwealth to do so.

The decision to use sharpshooters to kill Nahant coyotes spurred controversy from residents — more than a dozen of whom gathered on Nahant Beach to protest the board’s decision one week after the vote.

Since hiring the sharpshooters, the town announced they have killed one coyote, but Chris Del Dotto told Channel 7 News reporters he believes more has to be done to keep pets safe.

“Our dog was a part of our family and it was ripped from us,” Chris Del Dotto said. “Co-existing with coyotes, what does that mean? Do we have to sit there and let our dogs be eaten?”