“Animal Control Officer”: a varied job

Earlier this fall, Chris Buck, Animal Control Officer in Lawrence Township, NJ, talked about what her job includes. Don’t take her job title literally to describe what she does because that's far from all she’s ready and responsible for.

Buck says “as a kid, she was always into animals,” and for a while, she wanted to be a veterinarian. A friend who had held this job made it sound so good, Buck took the course and became ACO-certified – then when the position opened, she was ready and she got it, starting in on the 21 years she’s now served.

One of her duties is to inspect township kennels and pet shops. She also deals with wildlife calls – for instance, a sick fox with mange; advice on ground hogs; animals, including a snake, in someone’s house.

Buck enforces Lawrence licensing requirements and handles stray animals, taking dogs and cats to the Trenton Animal Shelter and “exotics” to people in the area who handle them.

Rabies cases and bites fall under her purview as well, as do any violations of township ordinances pertaining to animals. As a certified animal cruelty investigator, she can issue violations and with police help, arrest.

Twice a year, she coordinates the clinic for free rabies shots for dogs and cats in town. Her job also entails the regular Lawrence animal census and gives her numerous opportunities to make suggestions and educate residents.

During her work day, Buck uses the ACO truck, fitted out to deal with whatever she may encounter. Her equipment includes noose poles, nets, leashes, gloves, treats and toys, as well as two stretchers for sick or injured animals. There’s heat and air conditioning in the back for animals in transit.

Buck takes courses whenever she can, which is why she’s also certified for cruelty investigations, CPR and First Aid. Treasurer of the Princeton Dog Training Club, she also takes classes through that organization, and she teaches dog obedience through the Adult School in Hamilton Township, where she lives.

Not surprisingly at all, Buck’s family includes four Dalmatians -- Slide, nearly 13; Flash, almost 12; Noah, 10; and Lazer, 2. There’s also Riot, a Great Dane who will be a year old on New Year’s day. Two cats, Kodi and Kaluha, are in the family picture too.
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Protest in Trenton

This just in. Trenton's Animal Shelter is the reason for a demonstration by shelter volunteers and those who support them this Wednesday. At noon, people who believe the shelter should be better staffed and managed for the sake of the animals there will meet at City Hall, Trenton.

Some will be in costume, some will make speeches, some will hold signs ("Honk if you love animals" or "Honk for City Shelter Jobs"). The event aims to call attention to the facility's understaffing and the unsatisfactory conditions there.

According to the volunteers' press release, "Lack of staff leads to animal neglect." They say that a year ago there were six Animal Control Officers (ACOs), three secretaries, one animal attendant and a shelter manager -- a total of 11 people. Now, they say, there are only three ACOs, one secretary and a shleter manager, and because of the cut in staffing, "most of the on-site shelter work is now done by volunteers."

One 10-year volunteer at the shelter, Kristina Wetzel, recalls that the initial job of volunteers was to socialize the animals and help get them adopted. Now, of necessity, they're doing so much more, including keeping the place in compliance with State Health Codes.

Shelter volunteers describe "City Hall" as indifferent to the situation in not filling vacant positions. Meanwhile, they say, Mayor Palmer has just given himself and his staff a 10% raise and the city's business administrator has just created a new position for an acquaintance, paying over $100,000. Either of these moves, says Beverly Kidder, a nine-year shelter volunteer, "could have paid to re-staff the shelter positions."

Check your schedule for Wednesday, Dec. 16, between 12-1, and attend the demonstration if you possibly can. Come and speak for the shelter animals.

(For more information, Kristina Wetzel: 609-509-3248; Beverly Kidder: 609-309-5095.)
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Animals as props

Socialites or celebrities with little dogs under their arms or in totes -- everyone has seen them. Models posing with fluffy cats or dogs. And L. L. Bean catalogs that often seem to feature more appealing puppies than clothes or gear.

All these are examples of animals being used as props, reflecting a human need, not an animal need. What dog wants to be trucked along Fifth Avenue in a carry bag? Or clutched by a model whose attention is really on showing her own assets and what she's wearing? Or displayed on flannel sheets for sale, and then it's back to the kennel?

Earlier this week, another example of animals as props turned up in New York City: animals with beggars on the street. A homeless man sat in a doorway with a tabby lying next to him. The cat was partly covered by a small blanket or sweater. Another man (without an involuntary animal companion) had a sign telling passersby: I care for five cats. Homeless. AIDs.

If people donated to either man, were they prompted to do so because of the animals, either present or mentioned? Wasn't there a suggestion that financial aid would also help the animals? Which was the bigger motivating force -- the plight of either man (which at some point may have been voluntary) or that of the animals, which was never their choice?

Animals as props. Or hostages.
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Strange food-fellows

Answering my plea for good animal news, a California friend forwarded photos of a leopard and a mouse sharing a meal: the leopard’s.

The accompanying story had it that her keeper had just put the 12-year old leopard’s raw meat into her enclosure when a mouse suddenly appeared and began eating it. Instead of finishing off the mouse, the leopard merely sniffed and sort of nudged the rodent -- who kept on eating. And that was that.

And the leopard shall sit down with the mouse. . . and "do lunch." Or something like that.
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Dear "Anonymous": thanks!

(In response to the last post, about Cleveland Amory, "Anonymous" sent a comment that deserved to become its own post, so here it is . . . )

A Holiday Thought

Aren’t humans amazing animals? They kill wildlife -- birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.

Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative -- and fatal -- health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.

So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions of more animals to look for cures for these diseases.

Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals.

Meanwhile, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for "Peace on Earth."

--Revised Preface to Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates
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Cleveland Amory: worth knowing about

Some of the animal rights issues of today include animals in laboratories, hunting (including the infamous leg traps), speciesism (as in, humans are superior to/have dominion over non-human animals), murder of fur-bearing animals (including Canada's harp seals) . . . and on and on.

What a surprise, then, to read about a man who fought against these same abuses -- and many others -- in the second half of the last century. And we're still at it!

Cleveland Amory (1917-1998), born in Masachusetts, educated at Harvard and well-known as "a best-selling author, social critic, journalist and man-about-town in Manhattan," was also an animal rights crusader. In fact, it could be argued that his campaigns for animals were the very best things he did.

Marilyn Greenwald's new biography, Cleveland Amory: Media Curmudgeon & Animal Rights Crusader, details the many ways in which Amory rubbed people the wrong way -- while steadfastly pursuing better treatment for animals. He didn't win on all the issues, as already mentioned, but he fought well-publicized fights that must have impressed, and recruited, many other people. (Think: an airlift of burros from the bottom of the Grand Canyon; think: hiring a ship and beating the hunters to some of the baby seals that would otherwise have been clubbed and skinned alive.)

Amory also founded the Fund for Animals in 1967, and by 2005 when it merged with the Humane Society of the US (HSUS), the Fund had 200,000 members and constituents, a budget of $7 million and $20 million in assets.

One of his last, and lasting, acts was starting an animal sanctuary he called Black Beauty Ranch. At its peak, it housed nearly 600 abused animals of all kinds, beginning with some of the burros he had rescued earlier.

Animals could use more curmudgeons like this.
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Sea turtles' turn

Sad to say, a creature that has lived in the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica for 150 million years is severly threatened. And all it took was humans.

Sea turtles have become so scarce that the Leatherback Sea Turtle National Park and a related museum in Playa Grande are both defunct, for all practical (and tourist) purposes.

What happened? Beach development, drift net fishing and Costa Ricans' custom of eating turtle eggs, that's what happened. However, climate change is the overarching reason. It has caused rising seas, more violent storm surges and slow increases in beach temperature (which can result in all-female populations -- obviously a problem.)

Heroic efforts are being made to artifically cool turtle nests and protect coastal property from development so turtles have a place to nest as the sea rises. But the back of the beach is already fillled with hotels, restaurants and planted trees, giving the sand no place to go. "Turtles will have to find their way between the tennis courts and swimming pools," as one person observed.

The ultimate irony: many of those who enjoy slurping turtle eggs in bars from a shot glass . . . have never seen a turtle.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html?emc=eta1

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