Animal Control. It’s kind of the “third side” of animal and pet rescue. I didn’t know very much about it, except a thin memory from over a decade ago when I interned with the rescue group my family volunteered with. It was hazy and not exactly positive, so I wasn’t sure what I was really getting in to when I asked if I could go on a ride-along with a Hall County Animal Control officer.
Officer Josh Oliver picked me up from our studio on Thompson Bridge Road and I began two hours of pure animal control adventure. Oliver is a real, live police officer who focuses on animal services, however, he got his start as a vet tech for the shelter clinic and has worked with the shelter for eight years. One of the first things out of his mouth when I started asking him about himself and his job was that he didn’t really know what he wanted to do when he grew up, he only knew that he wanted to help animals. Later, I asked him what his favorite part of his job was.
“When there is a case where a dog is either being neglected or its injured and you get to be the one to pick it up and bring it in to where it’s getting treated, medical care, attention and care. That’s probably my favorite part in those situations is being the one to actually help the animal.”
I’ll be honest, I was pleasantly surprised that the first thing out of Oliver’s mouth when I asked him about his job was about how much he truly cared about animals. I always had assumed animal control officers had to be more, indifferent, I guess, towards animals because they were part of the job. But it sounds like, at least for Oliver, that’s not really how it works.
And, they’re not just glorified dog catchers, equipped with a big net and a badge. However, Oliver said they do get a lot of loose dog calls.
“We don’t pick up a ton of dogs, ‘cause that’s not our goal to pick up as many animals as we can pick up. We’re trying to solve a problem,” he told me in the interview. “And a lot of the times with loose dogs, we can find the owner of the dog, even the person calling knows who the owner is. So our first objective is getting the dog back to the owner and trying to solve the issue without having to bring the animal to the shelter.”
So, what do animal control officers do each day, and not just when my tape recorder and I are sitting in the front seat of one of their officer’s truck?
Oliver said in addition to loose animals calls, they also conduct welfare checks, often educating pet owners on proper care and local ordinances, and handle bite cases, which Oliver described as occurring often. As for dealing with rabies cases, hoarding situation and animal cruelty, Oliver said wild animals caught with rabies happens once in a while and that most are found when they enter the enclosures of outside pets. With hoarding, cases were very minimal per year, and animal cruelty was rare as well.
Like I mentioned earlier, Officer Oliver is a real, live law enforcement agent. In fact, all of the officers at Hall County Animal Services are post-certified or are currently completing certification. “It helps a lot as far as giving us more authority to follow up with, especially the animal cruelty and welfare of the animals.”
Oliver mentioned while we were out and about that he has law enforcement training hours to fulfill, per his job requirements, and he was really looking forward to an animal specific course. He said he could take any training he wanted to get his hours, but that he was always disappointed when there wasn’t something animal related, since that’s his job and all.
We had three calls while I was in the truck, a Ford Super Duty truck with a massive modified bed that was essentially a rolling kennel. Oliver told me it was a newer truck, and the back not only could house about eight animals at a time, but was also air conditioned so everyone (officer included) was comfortable during those “dog days” we’ve all come to love as Georgia residents. One call was looking for a loose dog - the traditional “dog catcher” call - but we weren’t able to find him. I hoped the alleged loose dog was just making a temporary break for it from a backyard near North Hall High School and decided to go home before the kids got out.
The second call was the most exciting, when a woman reported an injured cat was in her backyard. The cat might have been feral. Donning only a pair of black, disposable gloves, Oliver quickly – and I mean quickly – captured the cat with his almost bare hands near the wood line of the property. He held the cat by the scruff of the neck (just like Mama Cat would have done, also prevents the animal from turning and biting the handler) and carefully supported its body. He let me snap a picture and then the little dude was secured in one of the air conditioned containers, probably the most climate-controlled environment the cat had ever experienced. Oliver checked him for a microchip, just in case, but no dice. The little dude seemed to be fending for himself.
With the help of Best Friends, the Hall County Animal Shelter implemented a new program for cats just like the one we picked up. Oliver explained the Community Cats program, a catch and release program in partnership with the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia, was important for their agency and for the community. “The county actually hired a new position specifically to run the feral cat program, and that seems to be helping out a pretty good bit,” Oliver said. “There’s a ton of feral cats in Hall County. That’s an issue that absolutely needed to be addressed.” Specific information regarding the Community Cats program can be found here.
The cat wasn’t in extreme or visible pain – Oliver said he thought the cat may have been injured for a while – so we made one more stop before heading back to the shelter. This was to check a dog trap on someone’s property. Oliver explained the loose and/or roaming dog was bothering the property owner, so they were trying to nab the pup. They were tracking a few other dogs that seemed to be part of the same pack. The trap was empty.
Now, the pack problem is actually part of a bigger issue: indiscriminate breeding. Basically, when a pet owner breeds irresponsibly in some way, they are indiscriminately breeding. For example, if you allowed your unaltered, female dog to roam the neighborhood while she’s in heat (animal version of a fertility window) and she winds up pregnant, that’s indiscriminate breeding. Same goes if you are constantly dropping batches of your pet’s offspring off at the county shelter, or if you chose not to spay (or neuter) your cat and there are constantly little kitten babies emerging from your property. “You’re not breeding them to sell them or anything like that, you’re just allowing them to breed. That’s an issue because people who have these unsprayed females, they let them run loose, they’re bred by other loose dogs and then they have puppies that they can’t find homes for, and those puppies don’t get fixed and they grow up and they have more puppies,” he said. “There’s plenty of dogs at the shelter, right now. We need to cut back on new dogs.”
As Oliver explained, indiscriminate breeding kicks up the homeless pet population and that’s not great for really anyone involved, whether it’s cat, dog, the shelter or adopters. One thing I learned in pet rescue is, yes, people love puppies and kittens and they get adopted quickly, but when they aren’t properly cared for, the family gets bored of the animal or for whatever reason it no longer is a good fit, they end up BACK in the shelter! Secondly, he said spaying female pets and neutering male pets (sometimes called getting fixed, altering or desexing) is not as pricey as it seems and will save you money in the long run. “Spay and neuter is the big thing,” said Oliver. “The county makes it very affordable, they have low cost spay/neuter at the shelter and I know the Humane Society, they also have a program which helps out with spaying and neutering. It’s all about putting forth a little bit of effort to get your dog fixed.” In addition, animals that are fixed are less likely to develop certain types of cancers.
You know what I noticed the most about my ride-along with Officer Oliver? He really DID want to help animals. He wasn’t saying that because he had to, or because his supervisor told him to say it when the weird media girl asked to follow him around. He happily told me about his pets at home and was genuinely interested in mine. We had a stirring conversation about how great possums are. He was knowledgeable about his work and easily answered each question I peppered him with, like how he explained that animals suspected of rabies are put down because the only way to truly test for rabies is through the brain – one of the reasons it is so important to keep pets up to date on shots – and explained the ordinances that protected animals in the county, from the recent anti-tethering, to leash laws, to a cockfighting ordinance. You can read the full legal code regarding animals in Hall County online here.
I gained a lot of additional knowledge from talking with Officer Oliver and experiencing two hours in his shoes (well, truck.) I could reel off a lot of tidbits and details I learned just from talking to him.
Now that I’ve gotten to really experience the “third side” of animal rescue, I encourage those who are volunteering with rescue groups or unsure about Animal Control Services – or any animal rescue organization, for that matter - to talk to the staff, either by giving them a call or stopping by the shelter and getting a look at it for yourself. Ask them about the rumors you’ve heard and what programs they are have or are working on. And when you’re done, when your questions are answered and when you feel confident in your opinion on the agency, tell your friends, your family, even the local government what you think. Remember, if you truly want to help animals in your community, you can start by educating yourself on who is here and who is helping.
And what did I think of the whole ordeal? I think I was holding on to a few misconceptions that I'm still working on shedding and I appreciate Officer Oliver taking time out of his day to not only tell me what HCAS does, but show me how it’s done.
Like every shelter, the Hall County Animal Shelter is always in need of volunteers and donations. Check out volunteer opportunities here, their donation wishlist and ways to make monetary donations can be found here.
