Life Throws Everyone Hiccups...ACOs are NOT Immune

We all know life throws you hiccups. The more animals you have the more likely something is going to happen. Even for ACOs.

We had a "wonderful" lightning storm a few days ago. When it first started, I though someone was stealing our garbage can and dragging it down the road. That's happened! It was down the street and across near a field! That was the rumble that the thunder was making. I peered out the window to see a brilliant flash and another rumble. Followed by another flash. Then I heard the dogs pounding at the back door to be let in. Our rottie is one of those that is terrified of thunder and lightning. She couldn't wait to get in to be comforted by her daddy. The hound didn't seem to really understand what all the excitement was about, And the Old Retriever, stone deaf, was snoring away.

When the dogs came charging into the house, of coarse one of the inside only cats chose this chaotic moment to make a dash out the door. I don't think he realized what he was running out into. I put my shoes on to go out to catch the stupid cat and check the horses. This storm was really putting on a show. I could hear my neighbors and their kids on their back patio ooh and aah at the spectacle. I was a little apprehensive. Lightning makes me a little jittery.

I started out looking for the cat, but when the big drops of rain started to come down, and I could feel the electricity in the air, not to mention I was standing in between two very tall trees and our metal awning. The cat was on his own now.

I took a quick look at the horses, who appeared to be standing fairly calmly by the gate near the barn. All was well. So I went back in the house and watched the storm pass over from the safety of my home. I did go out on the front porch and found Mr. Escapee under my truck. He didn't seem to be all that heartbroken to be coming back inside at this point.

I went to bed and apparently missed most of the second storm that rolled through.

The next morning I slept in late. This was the first time in ages since school was now out and it was the first day of my weekend. The dogs tried to get me up at the usual time. But I wasn't budging. I finally got up at their insistent and to avoid any potty accidents. I figured since I was up I would stay up and go feed the horses breakfast and get my day started.

I got out to the barn and could see that the horses were in my neighbor's pasture. This wasn't unusual since we have a gate between pastures and our horses help keep his pasture mowed and our horses keep his ram sheep company. What was unusual was that none of them were in the barn demanding breakfast as this so-very-late 1 hour past our feeding time.

Then I noticed the gate and the fence, or rather the absence of one.

Well actually the fence and gate were there, the gate was laying flat on the ground as was the section of fence next to it.

Uh oh.

My first glance at the horses as I headed out to the downed gate and pasture didn't raise any red flags. Everyone was standing with all legs appearing to be intact. No broken legs. That is a horse owners worst nightmare, one that I experienced personally with one of my first horses when I was young.

I looked at my freaky Arabian first. She was fine and nickered softly as I approached them. Next was my husband's Thoroughbred. He too was fine. Standing next to him my daughter's Mustang, Nikka.

Crap.

She's standing there with her mule-ish ears perked forward and this large flap of skin hanging from her right side just behind her elbow. Of coarse I didn't have my cell phone on me, and I hadn't even thought to bring a halter.

The neighbor on the other side of my neighbor hollered a greeting. Apparently he had tried to get a hold of me when he and his wife saw the horse a hour ago. He told me that he called my work and let them know that my horse was injured and he couldn't get a hold of me but figured they could.

I thanked him for trying and excused myself to go get my phone and a halter.

I put a call into my vet. She was busy on the other side of the county, but she would be on her way as soon as she was done where she was at.

(Tip: Especially when you own large animals, have a prior relationship with your Large Animal Veterinarian. I have my vet come out twice a year to do health checks and vaccinations. Yes, I could do them myself, but I wouldn't have the good relationship with my vet if I didn't. This can save you a lot of time and grief trying to find a vet and wondering in a emergency, how are your horses going to react to them.)

After putting the call in I went out and brought the horses in. All three were still grouped together. No one was leaving anyone behind. I haltered Nikka , and for once she didn't try to run away or kick me. She can be nasty and stubborn.

All four of us, slowly walked to the barn. I got the Arab and the Thoroughbred in the two stall side and brought Nikka over the the single stall. I knew she would need to be separated. I did a more through exam of her and determined that while it look REALLY BAD, it was not as bad as it looked. I fed all the horses, knowing that this would also help prevent Nikka from moving around.

I called my husband and he was able to get off work to come home. I had him stop at the feed store for some supplies that I was going to need before the vet got there to clean and keep the wound moist. This would be important to her treatment and recovery. I had our basic first aid kit and supplies for legs, minor injuries and " boo boo's". This was definitly going to require a little more than what I had on hand.

(Tip: You should learn basic first aid for your types of animals before an emergency occurs. Knowing their anatomy is helpful, as well as vital signs and temperatures. Also keep a basic first aid kit for your types of animals. you can put together your own, or buy them at Feed Stores and Pet supply stores.)

When the vet arrived we had her all ready to be examined. Then the work began.

Sedation. Scrubbing. Rinsing. Prepping the area. Then sewing.

It took nearly 2 1/2 hours, repeated shots of sedative and 37 stitches. we measured the top of the wound to be about 4 1/2 inches across and nearly 12 inches down. She had basically (as my daughter would say "GROSS OUT ALERT") pulled a flap of fat and skin away from muscle.

After all that she is on a course of strong antibiotics and pain meds. In the beginning she was trying to kill me. But now she figures she get a boat load of grain afterwards so she isn't being quite as bad. This horse is a food whore. That's also why she is only getting grass hay with her meds, supplements, and grain. Miss Piggy should be her name. She's also confined to a small area so she can't graze the pasture, the grass keeps her a little busy.

Keeping the area clean is the biggest challenge. Especially with the fly repellent for wounds smeared all over.

Things are going OK for now.

Just like everyone else, ACOs have catastrophes too.

Oh, and I did call my dispatcher and told her my neighbor had called. She had the call for the injured horse but it had been cancelled. My neighbor called them back just after talking to me to let them know I was there and taking care of things.

(Last Tip: It's good to get to know your neighbors, even if it's just introducing youself or saying hello. And have a way for them to get ahold of you in an emergency. And when the dogs are trying to get you out of bed, it's for a good reason!)

If your interested in the "graphic" photos you can go to : http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m208/sassymee/Nikka%20Bad%20Day/

You may need a strong stomach for these.

Crazy Pigeon Lady and the Hawk

What it is about animals that brings out the complete NUTJOB Crazy coocoo bird in people? I will Never know. Just the way to start off a day, with crazy people. Sometimes it sets the tone of the whole day.

So the complaint is a lady is feeding pigeons and they are dying.

I get the pleasure of meeting this treasure of a human being who's first words to me are "Whaaaaado YOU want?!"

I go about explaining the problem and this only makes MzPigeonLady mad. She suddenly goes on a tirade,"They will starve if I doesn't feed them. No there aren't any dead pigeons on my patio and NO you can't look. None of your damn business what's on my patio. Take me to jail, I'm going to sue the county for discrimination against disabled people. I'm gonna feed the pigeons if I damn well please. Pigeons don't GET Wes Nile virus, some one told me so! your wrong! Fine take an old disabled lady to jail, just lock me up and throw away the key!"

Um, all I was trying to do was advise her of the complaint and warn her of the 60 Diseases that Pigeons can carry and transmit, many of which can affect people.

Ya, 60!

I didn't believe it either until I did a little research. I knew about Salmonella, Lice and Mite. But there are a whole lot more that are a hell of a lot nastier. E.Coli, Encephalitis, A coccidia strain that I can't think of the name right now. But some pretty serious stuff. I knew they were dirty nasty birds, but wow.

Oh and by the way, YES, they CAN GET West Nile!

Anyway, after her screaming tirade at me, her next door neighbor, who is also the complaining party came out. They proceeded to get into a shouting match with me between the two. I calmly asked the neighbor to go back in his house so I could finish my business there. He was nice enough to comply, after calling her a few last choice names.

Last thing I told her was to just please stop feeding the pigeons. She ended up telling me to have a Merry F'ing Christmas and slammed the door. I did speak the the management and this "lovely" woman is apparently a big problem. And not just about the birds. I advised the manager to call APS and Code Enforcement and gave her the appropriate numbers the call. I also spoke to code enforcement myself. This woman obviously has issues. Crazy.

The manager called back later. Apparently MzPigeonLady isn't too disabled in her wheelchair. After I left she went out to the store and got several large bags of bird seed. She then spread them around the parking lots. Nice.

Ok, so the Hawk. Now this was cool! Got a call about a injured hawk.

Reported to be a Red Tail which are UBERCOOL! I have picked up one of these before, injured. Get to the call and it's a little guy.

Still VERY cool.

Most likely a Cooper's Hawk.

This bugger doesn't want to be caught. He's got a broken wing and can't fly, but boy can he run. He didn't want to fall into the canal, smart bird, and neither did I, smart officer. So I pushed him towards a stand of bamboo. With the help of the finder and a couple neighbor boys I was able to get him in the net and then wrap a towel around him. So he'll be heading to Wildlife care to get fixed up and hopefully released.

I did have an idea. How about asking him to be released in MzPigeonLady's complex? Hawks LUUUUVE pigeons. Yummm tasty. That would definitely solve the pigeon population problem.

That Ain't Big Bird!

Our county is very diverse. From urban apartments and townhouses to acre upon acre of farmlands and everything in between. Suburbs, McMansions, Ghettos, Mini-ranchettes, Huge Ranches and even a large delta region. And in some these areas places are backed up to each other. You can go one block and go from ghetto to Huge ranches or Mini-ranches to rows of high dollar apartments.

Along with all this diversity comes the diversity of animals.

Sure we have the dogs and cats. And being so close in proximity to two large rivers at the base of the the mountains and foothills we have a large host of wildlife. We also have every species of farm animal and then some.

I think it was in the 90's that Ostrich and Emu farms suddenly hit the boom. Seems like everyone thought they could make a fortune with Ostrich or Emu meat and eggs. I'm not exactly sure how successful they were. There are still a few small ranches here and there and emus can still be found on farms and in fields. Novelties I think.

But like any other animal, when opportunity presents itself any animal will take a walk about. The thing about this is, unless you have worked on one of these large bird farms or a zoo, not many ACOs have had experience with Ostriches or Emus. But we learn fast.

I'm working a call in the southwest side of the county, kind of a ghetto neighborhood. I get a call from my supervisor asking where I'm at. I let him know and then he asks me to call him when I am done. When I do call him back he asks me to head out his way, the southeast side of the county. He also has a couple of Animal Care Attendants (ACAs) en route from the shelter. My supervisor explains that he was headed back to the shelter from an appointment when he passed a Emu just casually walking down a rural but well travelled road.

There is are at least two good reasons why my supervisor called for re-enforcements. That is those two bit strong powerful legs with wicked hard and sharp claws. My supervisor has also had previous experience. Bad experience. The reason why you call for backup with these birds.

I arrived at about the same time that the ACAs arrived. One of the ACA was experienced with Emus as he had worked in a zoo. The other ACA had come for the experience I guess.

My supervisor had herded the emu off the road and into a large field that was partially fenced. We quickly discussed strategy. ACA 1, the former zoo employee, and I had lassos. ACA 2 had a rope and a blanket. Our supervisor was manning a video camera.

ACA 1 and I began pushing the Emu into a corner of the field. Since the field was open this was going to be our only opportunity to catch it. ACA 2 was to slowly move in to the bird's front to close the gap. ACA 1 was the one was close enough to spin a loop. Just then the Emu panicked and took off at a run, ACA 1 threw his loop and caught one leg of the bird. ACA 2, being inexperienced ran towards the Emu before ACA 1 had the bird slowed. I don't know what he was thinking. The emu slammed into ACA 2 and knocked him to the ground. ACA 1, thankfully being a big guy, was able to wrap the lasso rope around behind him and jerk the big bird back away from ACA 2. That bird was seconds away from trampling him. I quickly joined ACA 1 and we eased the bird to a walk, moving closer and closer to it up the rope.

Once we got close enough, we maneuvered the rope so that it would wrap around the legs and temporarily trip it and bring it down.

It went down and ACA 1 jumped onto it having to use all his body weight to hold it down. I jumped on it and grabbed the neck. I was yelling at ACA 2 to bring the blanket as we needed to cover the head. This tends to calm birds down, especially large birds. I usually carry a few pillow cases that were ideal for this, but today I didn't have any.

We also had to hurry to secure the legs, especially since ACA 1 was laying across the Emu with a certain part of his anatomy that he didn't want to risk damage to exposed to those lethal feet.

I used several nylon dog leashes to secure the legs together. Then we used the lasso to wrap about the body to make the Emu a little easier to carry.

It took the three of us to carry this emu to our supervisor's waiting truck, and it barely fit into the dog box. We opened up the center divider to give him more room.

Our supervisor congratulated us on a good catch. He caught it all on camera. He said he may use it as a training video.

Oh and the Emu? Well, his owner came and got him the next day. Apparently, Mr. Emu was lonely and went looking for love. His owner planned to find him a companion.

When I Joined the Death Threat Club

This actually happened a few years ago when I was still pretty new to field work.

It all started with a German Shepherd that we picked up from a well meaning couple who had gotten him from a homeless man. Well the homeless guy apparently hadn't been caring for the dog, when they got it the first time (yes, I said the first time). He had been pushing it around in a shopping cart. The dog was 12 years old, emaciated, couldn't walk and was covered in open wounds. The couple offered to take the dog and get it veterinary care. Homeless guy let them.

They got the dog and got it fixed up so that it was on meds and putting on weight, and was able to stand and walk a little. A couple months later homeless guy shows up and wants his dog back. Umm WHY the couple gave the dog back I wasn't sure initially, but it turns out that the homeless guy is a complete nut case and they were afraid to not give dog back.

A few weeks later they see the guy minus shopping cart DRAGGING the dog down the street. Dog is in worse condition than before. Homeless guy wants them to take care of his dog for him again.

Umm WHY they didn't call AC at this point is the big question?

So they take the dog have it for a few days, and call the mobile vet to come check the dog out. Well dog is such a bad way, Vet wants to euth the dog. The couple aren't willing to do that, fear of homeless guy I'm guessing. They wait a few more days then don't want dog to be their responsibility anymore. So now AC get called.

One of our ACOs goes and picks dog up from the couple. He is taken immediately to the Emergency Vet hosp. Their vets say dog needs to be euth'd. Meanwhile dog BITES two of their techs during exam, one bad enough to go to the hospital immediately. They call us and want us to take the dog, they tell us dog needs to be euth'd but they can't/won't do it due to no owner. They have taken strays in and have had them euth'd but they won't consider this one a stray, since there is a owner somewhere (crazy homeless guy) but he can't be contacted. So this is where I came in.

I get assigned to go pick up this dog from Emerg. Vet to be eval for Euth by our shelter vet. So I go get this dog. I end up having to catch pole it just so we can get a muzzle on it so we can touch it to transport it. The dog can't stand on it's own let alone walk. It is in so much pain it's biting out of pain. The dog is a train wreck.

We finally get the dog loaded. He's trying to bite anyone who gets close through the muzzle. So I get back to the shelter and don't even take dog off my truck. I go get our shelter vet. I get help to get the dog off the truck and we don't even move it from there. The vet examines the dog and basically says what 3 other vets have already said. This dog is in extreme pain, has little or no chance of recovery. Plus the dog has bitten 2 people so far, there is the chance that it will bite again. No owner info, no way to contact. This dog is suffering. The vet authorizes the euth.

I get a senior ACO and vet tech and we do the Euth. Dog of coarse has to be submitted as a rabies specimen. We take pics of body dues to the condition.

Five days AFTER we euth the dog, guess who calls the shelter? Yep, crazy homeless guy. He left a message with a phone number and demanding to have his dog back. Apparantly the well meaning couple had foud the homeless guy or he came to get his dog again and they told him it had gone to AC. My Supervisor gives me the number and tells me, "Guess who gets to call him." Yeah...me.

So This is the fun part, I call the number, apparently a payphone crazy homeless guy is camped out by. And guy tells me he wants his dog back. I tell him that the dog was in very poor condition and he said he knew that and he was going to have it put down. I told him that due to it's condition the dog was euth'd. He flipped out screaming and swearing at me, ranting and raging. Then demanding to have his dog back. He wants to bury it with his dead mother, who according to him died on the same day we euth's the dog. So he spent maybe 10 minutes raging at me calling me all sorts of choice names, as well as the standard murderer, animal hater etc...Oh and I'm going to hell, my whole family is going to hell AND anyone I know is going to hell. So he wants his dog and he wants it now, he wants me to deliver his dog to him right now. I try to explain that dog has to be tested for rabies because it bit 2 people, this starts another tirade. Doesn't care what I say I better get him his dog right now or he's going to call the media, he's going to call the animal rights people, he's going to have them camp out on my front lawn and let everyone know what a f###ing b###h I am and that I like killing animals for fun.

So I at this point tell him that he needs to speak to my supervisor. He tells me my supervisor better call him right now. and hangs up on me. So I call my sup and let him know what is going on. He says he will call the guy, but he can't until after 3pm because he is going to be in Vicious Hearing until then. Lovely. Guess who gets to call guy back to let him know sup will call him after 3pm. Ok so 5 minutes into conversation (raging actually) guy tells me he's going to see me in hell and he's going to see me there personally. So I better be watching my back. Hangs up on me. Grrreeat. So for the next 2 hours I have to check my caller id on my work cell. He repeatedly called me during that 2 hours. Must have used a lot of quarters! Sup had told me if after I talked to him he calls back I don't have to answer it if it's him. I never heard back from him so I guess someone else used the payphone so no *69 recall. Anyway, When Sup did call him back apparently guy told sup her was going to come to the shelter and shoot everyone.

Oh and another tid bit of info that I hadn't known prior to this was the guy wouldn't have been able to bury his dog with his mother (I think there are state laws prohibiting that anyway). The well meaning couple had been told by the sheriff deputies who helped them file a restraining order against the homeless guy, that the mother had died several months prior to this all happening, he had been pushing her around in his shopping cart.

I'm not sure how true this last part is but that's how it all ended.

My "K-9" Partner

One of the bonuses to my job is I have the opportunity to bring one of my own dogs to work with me on a regular basis. We are allowed to bring our dogs from October to May. This time frame is due to the summer heat we get here. Not a really good public example if we have a dog in our truck when the temperatures can be up to 113 in the simmer, I mean summer. Our dogs also must be well behaved. They become a part of our public image.

Hera is my "Shelter Dog". I adopted her about 3 weeks after starting at Animal Control. Hera is a Rottweiler Doberman mix. We call her a Rotterman or a Dobiewiler. Hera loves to go to work. And she is a great example to the community about two of the "bad" breeds can be wonderful dogs. Any and every opportunity I get to use her a a teaching tool I do.

Hera's owner decided to not redeem her because it cost to much. So she lived in the adoption kennel waiting for her new home. I saw her on my first day. And she saw me. She would get so excited when I was cleaning the kennel. She was still pretty young, barely over a year old, very much a puppy still. It was love at first sight for both of us. One of the kennel attendants noticed how she would react to me and kept teasing me that "She's your dog." I tried to deign it, and even showed her to people coming in to look for a family dog. Even potential adopters remarked how much this dog seemed to want to be with me.

So it was inevitable. I talked to my kids and my boyfriend (who is now my husband).And the decision was made. Hera was getting her new forever home.

Hera joined the family and quickly adjusted to our family. I was a little concerned about Shadow, our hundred year old Golden Retriever (not really but he's 14!) at first. But Hera loved him and he her. She actually brought a little bit of a spark back into him. The cats were another story. I was sure that our female Siamese, Princess Cloe, was going to smother me in my sleep. Bucky, our male Siamese was less pissy and even allowed Hera to pin him down and "clean his ears out. She still does this on occasion. Or he taunts her into chasing him around the house.

Hera also has adjusted to having chickens. She learned that if you play too rough with them they stop moving and making noise. So now she just pretend stalks them until to Rooster squawks at her and then she leaves them alone. She also like to tell the horses what to do. As long as they are on their side of the fence. Otherwise she is running for me or her "Daddy" to save her from the giant dogs.

Hera's got a little sister now too. Milly, a Treeing Walker Coonhound, recently joined our family. Partners in crime!

Hera loves to go to work, she hears the word work and she is at the door. Once we get to the shelter she struts to the Officer Office and must say hello to my supervisor and my co-workers first thing.

When it's time to hit the road, she gets in her seat and waits for her vest to be put on. It's also a seat beat for her for safety.

She is exhausted when we get home, even though she spends about half of the day sleeping, and goes straight to bed with her daddy. When she is home she is daddy's girl. When she is at work she is my partner.

I couldn't have asked for a better K-9 Partner.

Bunnies Bunnies EVERYWHERE!!!

A couple months before Easter, I had a call to investigate a report for unhealthy conditions for rabbits. There weren't many details on my call sheet. So I'm thinking someone has a couple rabbits that they area not cleaning up their cage. Then I took a second look at the call address. The location was at a 2-bit horse boarding place that we have had MANY calls out to for various neglect issues. This place continues to have on going issues that always seem to get just under the wire of being OK. If I had my way, the place would be shut down. I'm still working on that.

Anyway, back to the rabbits.

So I'm still thinking that this is going to be something simple.

I get to the boarding facility and as I am going to open the gate I run into one of the women who I investigated in the past. "B" was very friendly and helpful today, despite the fact that I almost took her three horses away from her for various reasons. I asked her if she knew where the rabbits were. Oh boy did she. We both parked out vehicles and she showed me the way to a huge tent near the barn. This tent is one of those portable tarp and pvc deals that some people use as a temporary car port. I didn't even have to get very close to see that this was much worse and a bigger problem than I had initially thought.

The front of the tent was open and I could see multiple cages in 3 rows stacked on top of each other. I immediately noticed two dead rabbits in the first cages in the middle row. "B" let me know that she had called the CP (person who had called the complaint in) and she was on her way. She was also trying to call the property owner. B said that the rabbit owner had been gone for several days now and she wasn't sure when she was returning. She said that she was told that the rabbit owner was out of town and may not return for several weeks. I asked B if she knew who was taking care of the owner’s rabbits in her absence and she said that she didn’t think that anyone had been asked and if they were they probably said no due the prior bad attitudes between rabbit owner and other boarders.

The boarding facility is a self-care facility for mostly horses. Some horse owners have a few other animals, such as chickens and ducks. According to B, the rabbit owner owns only the rabbits.

So I began to assess the rabbits in their cages. I initially counted 62 live rabbits and 5 dead rabbits in cages inside the tent. The inside of the tent smelled very strongly of urine, feces and wet feed and bedding. None of the cages appeared the have been cleaned out in several weeks or even months. Feces was built up beneath cage floors into cages from the litter pans. The floor of the tent was covered in, mud, feces, old food, water, urine and down one row the floor was 2-3 inches deep in liquid mud. Under the bottom cages the feces was several inches thick from the ground to inside the bottom of cages. Flies, bugs and small gnat like flies were everywhere, including on the live rabbits.

I found most of the water bottles were empty, many had mold growing inside, several were broken and several rabbits had no water bottles at all. Very few rabbits had food. Some that had food that was wet and appeared to have been in their feeders for a long period of time. Most of the rabbits had no food at all.

The CP arrived and I spoke with her. She said that she had been at the property yesterday and had seen the dead rabbits. She also found the rabbits without water and no food. She showed me that some of the rabbits that she did give water to, had no water as many of the water bottles were broken and leaking. She also showed me the food barrel. The large blue barrel was empty and the only other feed was in a small red coffee can that was only about ¼ full of feed. There were no other sources of feed for the rabbits. And what there was was in no way going to feed this many rabbits. The CP also said that the owner was gone possibly out of town and not returning for a few weeks. The CP also stated that the rabbit owner had disposed of several dead rabbits in the creek next to the boarding facility. She showed me where they were located. I saw about 7 dead rabbits in a pile on the bank of the creek about 50’ from the tent. None of these deceased rabbits showed signs of heavy decomposition at this time.

I called my Senior Officer 468 to advise him of the conditions and how to precede with this many rabbits in the conditions they were in. I was advised to take pictures, which I had already started to do. 460 would be sent to assist with documenting and seizing of the rabbits. 468 would have ACAs prepare an area for the rabbits to be housed and he would be advising Supervisor 473. 471 was also en route to my location to assist with the seizure. I also at this point began to place numbered cards on the live rabbits cages for ID purposes.

I was also told by another boarder that there were more dead rabbits just behind the tent. She showed me where they were located. At the north west corner of the tent there where 3 more deceased rabbits. One rabbit showed very little decomposition, one was decomposing and one was completely decomposed (hair and a few bones left).

471 arrived and I showed him the conditions that the live rabbits were in and the areas where the dead rabbits were. We also walked the creek bank from the barn to the bridge. No other dead rabbits were found. Another boarder had stated that there may have been other rabbits tossed in the creek but may have floated away by now.

460 Arrived and I showed her the live rabbits and their conditions as well as the Dead rabbits.
I filled out and posted a POST-SEIZURE NOTICE for 597.1 and 8.08.060 for the Live rabbits.
471, 460 and myself began processing and impounding the live rabbits. Using the number cards I had placed on the cages, each rabbit was ID’d by color and ear tattoo if they had one, and individually boxed for transport. Obvious injuries and signs of illness were also noted so that the Shelter Vet could be notified of their immediate need for evaluation and care.

The property owner arrived. The property owner said that he did not realize the rabbits were in such poor conditions since this is a self care boarding property and he doesn’t have contact or care for the boarders animals. I asked him when the last time he heard from the rabbit owner. He said that it was Wednesday or Thursday of last week (4 to 5 days ago) he last saw her on the property.

Once all of the live rabbits were removed and ready to transport, we documented and ID’d the dead rabbits inside the tent, near the outside corner of the tent and on the creek bank.
A Grand Total of 66 live rabbits were removed from the tent, 6 dead rabbits were removed from the tent, 2 dead rabbits were removed from the outside of the tent and 8 rabbits were removed from the creek bank.

It took all three of our dog trucks to transport all those rabbits to the shelter. The ACAs had done a awesome job setting up the stalls in the shelter's barn with cages to house the rabbits. And they had unloaded 471's truck already and were waiting to help unload 460 and my trucks.

It took us about 5 hours to load the rabbits from the scene and a couple more to unload. Then a couple hours for 460 and I to input all the rabbits into the computer and make pen cards for each one.

The vet checked the rabbits that we had alerted her to needing immediate attention first. Unfortunately about 5 rabbits needed to be PTS because they were in such poor health. Then the vet checked the rest. She determined that the rest needed basic care, good food and water and they would be fine.

We tried everything to locate the owner. Including the media. This case, as well as another ACO's case about 20-plus abandoned cats at a church, hit the news in hopes that someone would see the stories and know something more. No such luck.

Our local Rabbit Rescue FUR stepped in to help with the care, socialization, assessment and the soon to be adoption promotion for the rabbits while they were in our care at the shelter.

The rabbits would be available for adoption around Easter time, BUT it's not our policy to adopt out during Easter. For the obvious reasons. Rabbits could be adopted but wouldn't be able to go home until after Easter, and after they were spayed and neutered.

I'm very please to report that ALL the rabbits got adopted, and none have been returned.

FURR and the Shelter Staff did a fabulous job of promoting and screening the adoptions.

Red Dog

Red Dog was mentioned in previous story Eat My Face. And the following post about Cops and Dogs I of coarse mentioned, well cops and dogs.

Now I guess you could say both of those stories have blended together in Red Dog's story.

As I previous mentioned. Red Dog was not a very friendly dog. Well Red Dog's owner bailed her dogs out of "doggie jail" after that Sunday incident. All 5 dogs. Ya, I know County Regulations are they can only own 4. Don't ask me how that flew out the shelter door. Not my call.
Well exactly 2 weeks later, on a Sunday AGAIN, we get another call. SSD again with several pit bulls loose and aggressive. They were chasing people and had attacked a couple cats, killing one and the other one was not located yet. As I was responding, I kept getting different reports, 2 dogs, 5 dogs, 3 dogs....no one seemed to be able to nail down how many dogs there actually were.
I arrived on scene to 5-6 SSD cruisers blocking off the Court where they thought they had all the dogs sort of contained.
I already had this nagging feeling, 3 to 5 dogs, pit bulls, the location. I just knew it.
I made contact with the Lt. on scene. She told me that there was one dog that was in a yard to the left side and two more at the end of the court. They weren't sure of their exact location. I told her I thought I might know the dogs and quickly explained.
I decided to go for the easy one dog first.
Catch pole in hand, compared to the shotgun and pepper ball gun armed SSDs, I went into the backyard. All the residents had already been told to stay in their homes and bring their own pets in. I was kind of hoping I was wrong about the dogs. Sure enough, Daisy peeked through a broken fence board at me. Daisy had been Red Dog's partner in wanting to eat my face. Today though she pretty much walked into my catch pole loop. But then I knew her name and yelled it at her. She knew she was busted and wasn't giving he any fight. I was actually able to put a leash on her and get her loaded in my truck. Officer 477, was also on her way to the area from across town, in case I needed help with multiple dogs.
So now I knew what or rather who I was up against. There were still four dogs unaccounted for, Tiny, Moomoo, Tiger and Red Dog.
I then went after the two dogs that were somewhere at the end of the court. In backyards. I need to mention that all of the houses on this court are quite nice, but their fences are crap. Falling down, full of holes, fence boards missing. Only one house had an actual nice new fence, except they had NO GATE.
Well, A couple of the SSDs helped me try to locate the missing dogs. We searched several backyards. I was about the give up when I decided to give a look behind a shed in the back corner of one yard. Sure enough I found Moomoo. She tried to charge out at me then cowered back in her hiding spot snarling at me. She screamed and alligator rolled when I catch poled her. You would have thought I was killing her. She fought me the whole way to the truck. I would stop and let her settle down and try to not let her choke.
Dogs will do that, twist and do the alligator roll trying to get away. We have to be able to know how to calmly deal with that.
I finally got her loaded and went back to double check the area behind the shed. I found Tiny. While I was struggling with Moomoo, Tiny had been right there, under a tarp covered BBQ inched from my legs. If he had wanted to, he could have bitten me. But he didn't and he let me put a leash on him and quietly walked with me to the truck. Complete opposite personality than Moomoo. He had also been the easy one from the call 2 weeks prior.
So now the question was, where are Tiger and Red Dog? Because of the prior history. I knew exactly where they lived. I had done the fence inspection, twice. I had failed it the first time and it passed the second time. Who knew that the owner wasn't going to separate the dogs like she said, and they were going to chew a hole through a 2x4 fence board and get out. The yard had been secured when I had inspected in and the owner had assured me that the young dogs would be separated from the older dogs. But with 5 dogs, 3 of which are barely a year old barely socialized and bored puppies, and an owner who is naive to the problem, shit happens.
I told the SSDs that I knew where the dogs lived and 2 cruisers and I headed over the the dog owners house. I called my Senior and asked him to look up the owner's phone number and advised him of what was going on. we arrived at the house and no one was home. No one except Tiger, who was barking from the backyard.
One of the SSD's was with me as we walked back from the side gate to the front door, the other one was still in his car advising the other units that we located one of the dogs at home.
Just as I was telling the SSD that I was concerned the Red Dog wasn't there and he was the worst of the pack, we had turned to head back to our vehicles. Red Dog came snarling and charging up from out of no where towards us. The SSD reached for his sidearm and I yelled "Red NO!" I guess this was enough at that moment to send him past us and off in the opposite direction of where he came from. And the chase was back on. The other unit took off and so was the SSD who had been with me.
I had to get to my truck, turn it around on this small residential street and follow. I was only what seemed like a minute behind the cruisers but they had faster more maneuverable vehicles than my truck. I had neighbors pointing the direction that they all went. I followed. I got a phone call from my Senior that the owner had been located and she was on her way. I saw a cruiser pull into the parking lot of the shopping center behind the houses and sped in that direction.
Just as I turned and pulled into the driveway of the parking lot I saw Red Dog charge out of the bushes along the retaining wall running towards an SSD with a shotgun. Two shots.
Red Dog went down.
It was over very quickly.

I went to Red Dog and checked for a pulse, even though I knew he was gone. Red was dead.
About that time I also got word that 477 had gotten to the original scene and had been found the severely injured cat. She had transported it to the Vet, but it died when she got there.
She arrived at my location at this point.
The SSD had another Lt arrive and a CSI was en route due to shots being fired. They had to process the scene. So all we could do at this point was stand by.
Then the owner arrived.
She didn't know what had happened at first. Since I had been in contact with her before I took her aside and told her what had happened. When I got to the point of what happened to Red Dog. She went hysterical. I was able to get her to calm down. And she did have a family member with her. But then she would get upset again. Especially when the Lt was trying to talk to her.
She wanted to see Red Dog. But we couldn't let her at that point. This upset her even more. I finally got her to go sit in her family member's vehicle. I thought I had gotten her calmed down. Then she would start screaming out the window at the SSDs.
I won't go into the details much other that the owner, in her state most likely wasn't thinking clearly. She did end up going to jail for the night because she wouldn't follow what the SSDs asked her to do, basically to calm down and wait until CSI and the Lt finished clearing the scene. And the little matter of trying to kick the Lt in the nards, three times. He even had her shoe print on his thigh.
I did feel for her. And do understand this, she is not what you would think of as a "typical pit bull owner". She is actually a very nice, professional woman.
When the scene was finally cleared, 477 and I carefully bagged Red Dog and loaded him into my truck.
I transported all the back to the shelter for intake.

A few days later the dog owner is at the shelter to try to get her dogs back. I let her know that she will have to have another yard inspection. I went back to the house and wrote out all the things that must be done before she could get any of the dogs back. Reinforced wire would need to be installed around the entire perimeter of the yard, so that the dogs cannot chew fence boards. As well as cement along the base of the wooden portions of the fence. Electric fence wire at bottom and midway up fence to keep dogs away from digging under or jumping or climbing on fence.
She was able to get family members together to help her do this over the following weekend.
I reinspected and she had done everything I had said. I didn't speak to her, but a family member since the owner had to be at work. The family member told me that she wished that the owner didn't have so many dogs. That she is overwhelmed with everything going on in her life and that is why the dogs are the way they are. She doesn't have time to socialize 4 large dogs and take them to training classes. I told her that maybe she should discuss this with the owner. The family member also asked me about my opinion of the behavior of the dogs. And I was frank with her.
Then I met with the dog at the shelter again.

Three dogs in the shelter, one at home. She now had the legal limit. She had talked to her family and now she asked me what I would recommend. I told her that I couldn't make this decision for her. I did recommend to her that she should consider only having two dogs at home. Her first possible choice was to allow Tiny to be put up for adoption. He was young, friendly, even in a shelter enviroment, the most social and probably the most trainable. With work he would probably be a really good dog for someone who could spend time with him. Her second choice was to have Moomoo Humanely Euth'd. The behavior she exhibited outside and inside the shelter indicated that she is very unsocial and unhandleable. A fear biter in the least. The owner was adamant about getting Daisy back home. She wasn't going to budge on that one. We didn't even discuss her since the owner made it know Daisy must come home.

In the end she decided to say goodbye to Moomoo.

Both Red Dog and his daughter, Moomoo,were picked up by the owner's family members and taken to their property in the foothills for burial.

It's a tragedy that all of this happened.

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I have been able to write anything. Life, work and well Life. Anyway, I'm going to try to get some more put up here. I actually have a LOT of stories drafted to share. So stay tuned.

Cops and Dogs 1

Now I don't want it to seem like I have a poor opinion of our local cities Police Officers (PD), CHP, and County Sheriff Deputies (SSD). I don't. I worked for the Sheriff's Department before coming to Animal Control and know many city and county officers. One of my best friend's husband is a K9 Officer for one city. They really are good people for the most part.

Except it seems when it comes to pit bulls or dogs that look like pit bulls.

I'm sure some of it has to do with the bad press that pits get. And some of it has to do with the asshats they have to deal with owning "badass" pit bulls.

They seem to have some over driving paranoia that ALL pit bulls are going to eat their face.

And you know what they want to do with that? Pepper Spray it. Tazer it. OR Shoot it.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times we, ACOs have literally saved dogs from being shot by cops. and I'll tell dog owners, they were lucky we (Animal control) showed up or your dog would be dead.

Now I may be getting ahead of myself. And I don't want to really give the impression that cops are shoot first ask questions later when it comes to ALL pit bulls.

And Not ALL cops react this way. I even know a few that have transported pits in their cars.

But the pits who are out running around acting like knuckle heads.

These are the ones that have cops up in arms. Literally. Most recently especially.

A couple weeks ago, we had a couple of pit bulls that were running loose and bit a man near a high school. Cops arrived first then 460 arrived. She put a call into me since my beat is closest to hers and the Swing officer 455 who had just started working other calls in her area.

When I arrived there were cops everywhere around the high school and junior high. You would have thought there was a bank robber on the loose. I get a radio call from 460 that she had one of the dogs but the other was last seen running down a major street. Cops were pursuing that one. I turned down that street and saw 2 SSDs running down the side of the street and a squad car lights going also turn onto the street. Waaaaaaay up ahead I saw this black blur blasting through traffic. I pulled over long enough for one of the SDDs to jump into my truck with his shotgun and we were in pursuit. He's leaning out my window with his shotgun.

We chased the dog off that street onto a side street next to the schools and down towards the residential neighborhood. The dog ran straight to the first house of the neighborhood. Several, four or five, cop cars were suddenly there. Cops jumping out of their cars as the dog was trying to jump the low fence into the front yard of this house. Cops with their guns drawn where yelling at the young woman, who was nonchalantly standing on the front step smoking a cigarette, to get into her house. Instead, she walks over the the gate and lets the dog into the yard. A couple young men came out of the house. Turns out this is where the dogs live.

My thought at this was "HELLO??? COPS WITH GUNS ASSHATS!!" But I was kind of hanging back, since the cops seem to be taking things under thier control.

So during all of this the owner was at home hanging out. This house looks directly at the schools. The bite attack happened just down the street in front of the high school. So for a undetermined length of time these dogs were not home, running loose, bit someone, had cops arrive, animal control arrive, chased all around the school and neighborhoods, then chased back home. And the owners had no idea their dogs were gone.

The black dog, Trey and the white dog, Hitler. Were both impounded by us. The cops ran everyone in the house for warrants and probation checks.

I told the owner, when he asked me if he was going to be able to get his dogs back, that he was lucky that his dogs were alive. That if we hadn't been there the cops would have most definitely shot and killed his dogs. Yes, he could get his dogs back, AFTER a 10 day Quarantine for the bite, paying all the fees (impound, quarantine boarding, rabies vaccinations, licensing and at-large fine) AND a fence inspection. Then his dogs can come home. And if the bite victim filed a Vicious/Dangerous Dog Affidavit they couldn't be released until after the Court hearing if they are released at all. (As far as I know the Victim didn't file one, even though he was encouraged to do so). This was 460's call so I just helped her out with taking down information for the reports while she impounded the second dog.

I have many other stories about cops and animals, especially dogs and namely pit bulls. But I'll have to share those later.

Long story short. Have a knucklehead pit bull in my county? Better make sure it's secure in your yard. For its safety as well as the public.

Eat my Face

I use this term a lot at work. It's nice short graphic description of how a dog has reacted to you.
"He wanted to eat my face".
Seems like how my partner 460 and I can sum up this week.
Now let me start off with this little disclaimer:
I do not have an prejudice against Pit bulls, I have met and been around MANY great pit bulls and other bully breeds. It is unfortunately due to their HIGH population that in the Animal Control Field, we deal with many of the Not-So-Nice ones.
Now with that said, on with this week.
Sunday we get a call for a Police Assist. Three to Four aggressive Pit bulls in a grocery story parking lot.
I got there first. Cop 1 has his shotgun ready. The Cop 2 is on the other side of the Vacant store's back lot that is fenced in. There are indeed Three pit mixes in this enclosed area. No they didn't belong there. I actually knew where they did belong. We had dealt with them before, a few times. Cop 1 and 2 have not entered the fenced in area. So grabbing my catch pole I open up a panel in the rent-a-fence and enter with Cop 1 right behind me. My partner 460 is on her way to give me a hand, I can usually handle 2 aggressive dogs but three is very tricky if your on your own.
Not to mention the cops always seem ready to shoot pit bulls. So even if the dogs are knuckleheads, we are actually saving them from being shot on many occasions.
So Cop 1 tells me he is ready to shot if any of them charge. And he is ready. Shotgun is leveled and ready. I can tell by now that these three dogs are young. In the back of my mind I am wondering where the other two dogs that live with them are, the adult pits.
Growing tired of walking slowly behind Cop 1 and his shotgun with him repeatedly saying he is prepared to shot if we are charged, I finally started walking faster and passed him. Striding with purpose towards the closest dog.
I Said," Well, let's see if we get charged". Leaving Cop 1 standing back there with his shotgun.
Dog of coarse knew I called his bluff and went running to hid in the bushes with his buddies. 460 Showed up around that time and we have all 3 dogs impounded on our trucks within a few minutes. Cop 2 was cheering as we caught and pulled one by one snarling, rolling, pole chewing, gator rolling dogs out of the bushes. Actually it was only the first and second one that wanted to eat our faces. I caught the first one and took him to my truck, 460 caught the second one and took her to her truck and I caught the third. I actually was able to put a leash on him.
Cop 2 caught up with us at out trucks and offered praise and awe at our bravery to go into the bushes to "get so close" and catch the dogs. 460 and I just looked at each other and kind of laughed.
We are getting ready to leave the area, when we get a report of two more pit bulls running loose just a few blocks away from our location. Supposedly they caught and mauled a cat.
We knew it had to be the missing adult dogs.
We patrolled the area, but found nothing. I told 460 that we would get a call on these dogs. No doubt.
And several hours and three more aggressive dogs later. We did.
Red Dog and Daisy, as I later found out their names. Definitely wanted to eat our faces.
They were even working as a team to try to get 460 or myself into a spot where they could bully us down. But we were working the same game. Daisy nearly ripped 460's hand off when she was running passed 460 and 460 snagged her with her catch pole. Daisy ripped the pole out of her hand and ran for the fence. We had the hole blocked. Red Dog tried to go after 460 when she went for her catch pole still on Daisy's neck. I distracted him long enough for 460 to get her catch pole, and Daisy and haul her off to her truck.
Red Dog wasn't going without a fight. We did finally get him cornered and 460 got her loop over his head. He was a big strong dog. He started whipping around and fighting the pole until I got my loop over him. It took both of us to move him to the truck.
Wrestling dogs really does wipe you out.
The next day wasn't much better.
460 called me for assistance with 2 extremely aggressive pit bulls in a lady's backyard. When I got there These two, especially the female were over the top aggressive. They made Red Dog and Daisy seem like, well, puppy dogs. And the worst part was these two could scale 6 foot fences with ease. Like they had springs on their feet.
But they first wanted to eat our faces and I imagine gnaw on out skulls.
They did get tired of trying to eat our faces and *bo-ing* back into their yard. I peeked through the fence and saw teeth....But I was also able to see that there was another dog and a small puppy in the backyard. No shelter, no water. Just three and a half dogs.
We called in our Senior Officer and explained the situation. Our senior came to assess and assist with another officer.
It is a VERY rare thing for FOUR officers to be needed to impound dogs. But that was how bad these dogs were.
We got them though. Not without the Uber aggressive female going over 3 fences and attempting to go over a 4th that would have put her onto a public street. We got her before she was able to get all the way over the fence.
Whew. What a week.
But we still have our faces!

I don't WANT to take your Dog....

Dear Angry Dog Owner,

No.

I don't want to take your dog. My goal at the end of my shift each day is to go back to the shelter with an empty truck.

But due to you not being a responsible dog owner, I may have your dog on my truck. If your really lucky your dog is not in my tailgate box. This is the box of no return. The few that have tags or microchip that are up to date will at least get a phone call, and will know the fate of their pet.

Too many others will not.

But if your dog is in my truck in one of the dog boxes on the side, you have failed your pet somehow. You have allowed your dog to run loose, and most likely with no ID whatsoever. I know there are flukes when a dog accidentally gets out. But I also know that responsible dog owners put collars, tags and microchips to ID their dogs. Just in Case. They may never think their dog will get out, but it CAN happen even to the most responsible owner. These cases are easy. With dogs that have current licenses especially, I will made every effort to contact the owner, go to their house, call all phone numbers available.

I don't WANT to take your dog to the shelter. I will return dogs to owners who have ID, Microchip, phone numbers and tags. Most of the time I am going to just give a warning. Maybe the worst that will happen is I will cite for the dog running loose. I usually only do this if the dog had be difficult to catch, was running in and out of traffic. This is a public safety hazard, and a deadly hazard to the dog!

But if your an irresponsible pet owner. Your fences are in poor condition, or you just don't give a hang that your dog is running loose, is un-neutered/un-spayed, no tags, aggressive because it's unsocialized or territorial because it's un-neutered. It's going in my truck.

If your dog has bitten someone, has no rabies vaccinations and was running loose when it bit someone, it's going on my truck.

If you have failed to provide your dog with proper care, Food, Water, Shelter and Veterinary Care, your dog will go on my truck.

There are too many of these types of dogs.

I feel bad for the Dog when I have to take it to the shelter. Especially the old ones. It breaks my heart to find an old dog wandering the streets, obviously lost, but having no ID. I had a 13 year old Golden Reteriever who was microchipped. He couldn't even make it halfway across the yard to potty, but he had ID!

There is no excuse for dogs to NOT have some form of ID.

The OLDEST excuse I hear? "I took his collar off to give him a bath." And then you left him OUTSIDE??

Or the completely oblivious owners. Thier dog is running loose on the streets outside thier house chasing people, cars, bikes, dogs being walked on leashes. Dog is barking and raising a ruckus so loud that several neighbors call it in. I get there and dog is sure enough out running amuck and tries to charge me snarling like it's going to eat my face. I don't take that BS. I chase him back through the open gate or HUGE hole in gate or fence, or the open garage door. Or just onto the front porch. FINALLY the owner comes to check on thier dog and find me getting ready to catch pole thier dog. Did you not hear your dog for the last several hours barking, snarling, growling? Your getting a citation. Your lucky your dog isn't going on my truck. Next time it will.

Now don't assume that when I roll up in front of your house, I am there to take your dog.

I don't WANT to take your dog. Your irresponsibility forces me to take your dog.

                                                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                                          The Dog Catcher



Another Happy Tail!!!

It's really awsome when calls end well.

I got the call that there was a little emacited grey and white dog that was reported to be in a field across from a supermarket and near a busy intersection. I patrolled the area and didn't find the dog. The field was huge, a good 5 acres with tall grass, drop-offs, trees and overgrown vegitation. Lots of places for a little scared dog to hide. Like I said, I couldn't find the dog. I called the person who had called it in. I let her know that I hadn't been able to find it. She told me that she had seen it running along the temporary fencing around the field and a friend of her's saw it again so she called it in.

I asked her to call back in if she sees it again.

Well by the next day, I got another call. And not from the original caller. So the dog was still in the area. I just wasn't seeing it. Later that evening I did some checking on CL. Well, after a couple days I got some feedback. Apparantly this dog had been seen in the field since around Christmas. The one house next to the field had been trying to catch the dog and leaving food out day and night. They also had a dog house set up. Then I was contacted by a Greyhound rescue. This filled in a little more of the puzzle. They had a foster that had been lost from in the area. They were thinking that it was the same dog. From the reports I had gotten, it very well could be.

I explained to the rescue contact that we didn't have a trap available. I had been trying to get our trap out, but it was in use at the Airport. Well, the rescue contact said she would try a few of her contacts to see if she could get a trap. She and I remained in contact to coordinate the trap placement. She had never set a trap before so I gave her pointers since I was probebly going to be off duty by the time she got a trap. she did get it set up by friday. And I checked the trap out. I still hadn't seen the dog.

The trap was set up so that it wouldn't close. This was done to lure the dog in so that it would not be afraid. This would take at least a couple of days. The neighbors in the house were very helpful by checking that there was food, and moving the bowls in further. this was helpful due the the rescue contact living pretty far away. Other officers also checked the trap daily until I returned to duty.

I went out the the trap on my first day back. The bowls where all the way inside the trap, and the food had been eaten. Time to se the trap and hope that it was our little guy.

I refilled the food and set the trap so it would spring when the dog went inside to eat. The rescue and neighbor had made sure that the trap had warm blankets and was covered to keep the dog safe from the outdoor weather.

Early the next morning I got a phone message from the neighbor. The dog was in the trap! He went in last night and she discovered him on her last trip out to the trap for the night. She had already called the rescue and they were already in motion to go pick up the trap and dog.

I was then contacted by the rescue contact. She had been called late last night and had been up since 6am to get the trap and dog. She had just finished picking him and the trap up. It was thier missing foster, a whippet who had gotten away from his foster home.

The rescue contact told me that he was in remarkable good condition, and he was on his way to her house to get checked out and she was going to personally foster this little guy. After all he had been through, she wanted to make sure nothing else happened to him.

While I didn't actually catch this dog. I still consider it one of my sucesses. And thank you to all that had been involved and cared.

You know, I never did get to see the dog.

I Am Your Animal Control Officer

I Am Your Animal Control Officer (by Kelli Bramlett, ACO)((not me btw))
(This was a handout given at one of our mandatory Compassion Fatigue Workshops, it says a LOT about who we are and how we feel.)

I am your animal control officer. I am not the dreaded "dog catcher" or "murderer" you call me. I am not the one who allows your pet to roam the streets, to contract diseases from either free-roaming animals, to be hit by passing motorists or poisoned by rotting garbage.
I am the one who must look into those sick, pain-glazed eyes, try to remove the animal without causing it further pain and then humanely "put it to sleep" to put an end to its suffering.
I am not the one who allows your pets to breed, then dumps the unwanted puppies and kittens on roadsides and in shelters. I am the one who must find the tiny animals before they die of starvation, exposure, or disease and as an act of mercy exterminate them. It HURTS ME to be forced to kill hundreds of thousands of animals each year, but because of your irresponsibility. I have no choice.
I am not the one who abandons unwanted animals on farm roads, telling myself some friendly farmer will take them in and give them a good home. But I am the one who must pick up the frightened animal as it waits in vain for its beloved master, wondering why it has been abandoned. I am the one who must help that friendly farmer trap, tranquilize or kill that animal because it has begun to roam in packs with other abandoned hungry animals, killing livestock, fowl and game.
I am not the one who breeds and fights dogs in the name of “sport”. But I am the one who fights the breeders and participants and must pick up the dead and dying animals left behind.
I am not the one who keeps a pet confined in an area too small, without food, water, shelter or exercise. But I must deal with the irresponsible owner who does.
I am not the one who refuses to spend time and money to keep up regular inoculations that all pets require. But I am the one who must pick up the sick animal that is dying of a preventable disease.
So remember, the next time your child is bitten by a strange dog, your trash is dumped and scattered, your pet is lost, stolen, poisoned or hit by a car, it is the animals control officer you call...not the “dog catcher.”
The next time your pet is picked up, or you are cited for neglecting or abusing it, remember, I am only trying to get you to fulfill your responsibility to your pet, your neighbor and yourself.
Don’t scorn me. Respect me, for I am the product of your irresponsibility.
I love animals, and I care.

Monster...A Happy Ending

My first run in with Monster, as I later found out was his name, was back on 12/15/08.

Got a call for an aggressive German Shepherd that wouldn't leave someones property. So I get there and Monster is in this backyard.

He is a HUGE dog, ya, I'd name him Monster too!!

When I try to catch him he doesn't even growl, he just charges me. He blows right passed me before I can get a catch pole loop around him. So I spend the next 15 minutes chasing him around, in and out of the backyard and front yard since there is no fence on one side. I finally have had enough and call for another officer to come assist me. She'd take about 20 minutes to get there. So in this 20 minutes I again try to catch him.

I had him cornered again and as he was charging me, once again, I got the catch pole loop around his neck!

But he is going so fast and is so huge that he blows passed me, yanking the catchpole, spinning me and him around and he takes off. I take off after him as now he is headed out into the neighborhood. By the time I run back to my truck and get turned around to catch him he is around the corner and vanishes. I start cruising the neighborhood and surrounding streets. He has vanished.

The other officer arrived and we both are searching.

Nothing.

Finally we call it.

Unable to locate.

The other officer and I both check craigslist as she mentioned seeing and ad for a lost Shepherd. She was going to follow up and give the poster a call. She did and left a message.

Fast forward 3 weeks later. 1/6/08.

I respond to a call of a Dog reported to be abandoned at a vacant house. Another officer had posted a Pre-seizure for abandonment and now it was time to pick the dog up.

So I go into the backyard.

Monster is there.

Of coarse this property is on 2 acres and not fenced in so the chase is on.

Didn't last long.

This dog has a knack of disappearing.

I had also gotten a call earlier about an aggressive dog that just happened to be on the other side of the street. Monster.

So I have gone out to this property every day this week to leave food to try to keep him around. No traps available and no Tranq available. I have to remind myself that I love working for the county.

Today, Supervisor tells me that he can meet me out there and tranq the dog. I go out early to set food out and make sure the Monster is still there.

Yep. He barks at me and takes off into the field. But he'll be back.

I leave to go do another call.

As I am driving there a lost dog poster catches my eye. "His Name is Monster", and there are pictures. It's him!

So I call the number and the owner called me back. She would meet me at the property and confirm if it is her dog. Of coarse when we get there Monster is no where in sight. Owner starts calling and calling. We are there for a good 20 minutes when she catches a glimpse of a tail in the orchard next to the property. She keeps calling and and calling. And she goes down the street. I hang back and can hear that she has found him. It's him. She is screaming and cry she is so happy and I can see him jumping on her he is so excited to see his mommy. I actually choked up a little when I heard her. I watched as Monster jumped around and loved on her. A totally different dog that I had known. He jumped into the back of her vehicle, happy as can be.

Monster had been missing since 11/20/08, nearly 2 months! And he was at least 10 miles away from where he had been lost from. Amazingly, he was in pretty good shape. So he is home and safe tonight and his owner and his sister are very glad he is back. I love happy endings.

Happy Stinking New Year

Whew....Three guys are not enjoying their New Year. Not at their house at least.

Call came in as a Skunk in the Bathroom. Ok so my first thought was...did I hear that right? A Skunk in a bathroom? Gotta be a mistake. Well I get there and am greeted by 3 guys standing on the street outside their little, and I do mean little house. The front door is wide open. And it's cold and overcast. As soon as I get out of the truck I can smell that unmistakable smell of skunk. Gee must be at the right house. One of the guys refuses to go near the house. Every time the aroma would waif his way he started gagging and coughing. So one of the other ones shows me into the house. And directs me to where the bathroom is. I cautiously poke my head into the bathroom and sure enough, there is the black and white furry beast behind the toilet. The guys had taken the dispatchers advice of placing a trail of food along the floor to lead skunk outside. Ya...that will work.

I went back out to my truck to get my equipment. A catch pole, plastic garbage bag and cage.

As I was getting my stuff I asked mr. gaggy "so how did this happen?" He choked out the story. The buddies were sitting in the living room when Mr.Gaggy's black lab went running into the back of the house where the kitchen and bathroom are, barking like crazy. Then they heard her yelping and she came running back out foaming and bleeding from the nose. That was when they smelled that wonderful aroma. Apparently Mr.Skunk found his way into the house via the doggie door. This is not uncommon by the way. And Poor labby got a full blast of spray in the schnoz. Scared skunk ran in to the bathroom and that was were he stayed until I was called.

So here I was getting my equipment. I warned the guys that the smell was going to get worse not better, as Skunk wasn't going to leave peacefully. Meaning that there is going to be spraying. Nope sorry no way to avoid it.

I would do my best to keep it contained to one room, the bathroom. but the house was still going to smell.

Sorry guys.

I re-enter the house and again assess the situation. Skunk has himself wedged behind the toilet. all I can see is his big fluffy tail. And that is NEVER a good thing to only see. Knowing that I am not going to get a catch pole around him without his stink bomb going off every which way, I go back out to my truck and grab my snake tongs. I use the snake tongs to grab him by the tail.

*SQUIRT*

He blasts the wall and floor next to the toilet. I manage to orient his pungent pink "eye" away from me and drag him a little further out. I have the cage ready, in the open plastic garbage bag. I just need to somehow manage to get him inside without painting me and the entire bathroom with dayglow yellow stinking spray. Using the catchpole to pin him to the floor, and change my position of the snake tongs. Using both the catchpole and the snake tongs like giant chop sticks, I maneuver him around the floor and lift and drop him into the cage in the back. As I do this he manages to get one more

*SQUIRT* on the wall next to the shower, and angrily sprays the inside of the cage and bag while I use the tongs to close the bag up. TA DA!!!! bagged a Big one! I walk out of the house with my pole and tongs in one hand and the bagged cage in the other. the guys were cheering. And gagging. But happy that the skunk was gone. The dog still looked miserable. The neighbors were cheering too, as this had apparently drawn a small crowd brave enough to bare the smell.

I told the guys to open the house up and get some fans going. I felt bad for them so I called my always helpful hubby, who looked up the Formula for skunk smell removal. I gave the formula to them and advised that they might want to pitch a tent outside for tonight. They planned on sleeping elsewhere for the at least tonight. Mr.Gaggy was also going to take his dog to the vet to make sure she was ok and see if they could do something about her smell.At least they will always have a wild story to tell about New Years 2009. And so will I.

Tidbit: If you hold a skunks tail down it can't spray. But HOW do you get that close in the first place, and WHY would you want to?

FORMULA:

1 quart of WHITE Vinegar

1/4 cup of Baking Soda

1 tablespoon of Dish Shop (Dawn is recommended)

no more or less as it changes the properties.

There are many other recipes, but this one is suppose to be the best.

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. I am an Animal Control Officer, or to shorten ACO. Hopefully readers will be entertained and a little bit educated about being an ACO.

Well Enough with this...let's get on with the stories!!!