Back atcha, Smita, & ACO shooter status

First, thanks to Smita Joshi, of India, who sent a comment on the last blog post, "With friends like this, who needs. . . " Can we hear from you again, Smita? Where are you and what are you doing for animals in India? How did you find AnimalBeat? Tell us about you and your life with animals, please!

Second, the situation of the Princeton animal control officer who shot two beavers on May 13 continues to be unresolved. The Princeton Packet stories printed since then have attracted numerous reader comments, mostly all negative toward the animal control officer. More recently they’ve also grown more critical of the town officials who seem strangely reluctant to take a stand.

The Friday, May 27 story on the issue was comparatively small and ostensibly about another animal issue in town: a fox that reportedly bit a dog. That incident has raised questions about whether the fox is rabid . . . and who should deal with the problem.

The answer: Mark Johnson, the trigger-happy ACO.

Officials indicated he’s been “cleared” to deal with the fox situation. They also said they’ll put together a list of guidelines for correct behavior in various situations involving animals – a “bible” Johnson can refer to.

HUH? Does this mean that till now, after nearly 20 years on the job, Johnson has not known what to do (which the beaver shooting would suggest, although that act seemed more like an ‘I can do what I want’ act than one resulting from ignorance).

And is that the only reaction his superiors will have to Johnson’s behavior?

Hoping there’s more news, and some backbone, in this Tuesday’s Packet.
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With friends like this ACO, who needs . . .?

"Beaver shootings by Princeton animal control officer prompt outrage and alleged cover-ups," read the headline in NewJerseyNewsroom.com today. The story:

The shooter in the May 13 killing in Princeton of two beavers is known. He reportedly told a resident he was going to get rid of them. Then he did – after dark, in a town park, with a .22 rifle.

Mark Johnson, the shooter, is the animal control officer in Princeton borough and Princeton township, which share the health dept. services that include animal control.

Robert Bruschi, Princeton borough administrator, told the Princeton Packet (May 20) Johnson viewed [the beavers] as “a nuisance.” . . .

To read the rest of this story, click below. Then please write a comment after the latest Packet story about the killing of these 2 beavers. If the public doesn't let Princeton officials know how they feel about this ACO's latest bad deed, things will never change.

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/science-updates/beaver-shootings-by-princeton-animal-control-officer-prompts-outrage-and-alleged-cover-ups

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Not whodunit, but who will act on it?

On May 13, the animal control officer in Princeton (borough and township) shot and killed two beavers in a park there. He had told a resident on her way with her dog to see the beavers to leave the park, saying he was going to get rid of them.

A week later, on May 20, both the Times of Trenton and the Princeton Packet carried stories about his shooting the beavers with a rifle.

Borough and township officials were quoted, saying not much of anything except "investigations will happen," and the ACO was reported to be "on vacation" till this week.

The overtures I made today to Mark Johnson, the ACO, to his health dept. supervisor, David Henry, and Robert Bruschi, borough administrator, went unanswered: no reply to my e-note to Johnson requesting an interview; no return phone calls from Henry, Bruschi or Chad Goerner, township mayor.

I'd like to think they were all huddled together, figuring out what to do next, given the newspaper stories and the revealing comments -- about the ACO's history on the job and his being protected from the start -- that Packet readers took the trouble to write.

In my dreams.

We'll see what happens, and what's printed, tomorrow, then I'll post results here next time.
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