Jen Holz is a rare professional mix of two far-removed worlds: animals
and law enforcement.
"It takes a certain kind of person to be involved in law enforcement and
deal with animals at the same time," says Holz. She is an animal control officer
(ACO) with the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) Police Department.
The UCSC campus is located near a nature reserve. The reserve has every
kind of animal, from deer to mountain lions. While the school's student population
often run into problems with the local wildlife, their trusty ACO is in heaven.
"Animals just fascinate me," says Holz. "I think it's so interesting to
try and figure out how to communicate with them. That's what a lot of animal
control is all about: recognizing their behavior, figuring out how to avoid
problems with them."
But dealing with animals is only one aspect of her life as an ACO. Human
beings demand most of her attention.
"A lot of animal control involves dealing with people," says Holz. "I think
a lot of folks make the mistake of getting into animal control thinking it'll
just be them and the animals. But you really need good people skills, too."
Holz makes it clear whose side she's on. Although she spends a lot of her
time trapping feral cats (domestic cats bred in the wild) and collecting loose
dogs, her loyalties are with the animals themselves.
"My feeling is that most problems people have with animals are really their
own fault," she says. "The people are the ones creating most of the problems,
especially by letting their pets loose without having them fixed. So they
get overpopulated and get sick and, very sadly, have to be put down."
Bruce Peet is glad not to have to deal with euthanasia -- the dark side
of animal control -- as often as Holz. He's a veteran ACO. He works for a
unique pound, which is known as a no-kill facility. It doesn't put down any
animal that is healthy enough to adopt.
"We feel there are other ways to deal with the problem than to euthanize,"
says Peet.
"We have a foster care program here. People temporarily keep the animals
we don't have room for. But still, our facility is always full to capacity.
And we have to keep a waiting list for people who want to put their pets up
for adoption."
But with most animal control kennels bursting at the seams with unwanted
animals, euthanasia is the inevitable fate for the majority of an ACO's furry
charges. Many say it breaks the heart, and is by far the worst part of the
job.
"It really plays on you mentally," says Bunny Baldwin. She is an ACO in
Polk County, Florida.
"Putting healthy animals down is the number one thing everybody hates.
I have two dogs and three cats, all of which were going to be put to sleep,
but I just couldn't do it. I'm at my limit now, though."
Animal control's reputation for euthanasia has attached an unfortunate
stigma to the job title. ACOs have to deal with that alongside their grim
task.
"I've been called a murderer, a dog killer," says Baldwin. "Even by children,
because their parents have taught them something that's far from true.
"I love animals," she says. "When an animal comes in here, it may have
never been loved before, it may never be loved again, but it will be loved
by me."
It's the caregiving, humanitarian side of the job that attracts many ACOs
to their work. Baldwin knew what she wanted to be after reading the paper
one day.
"I saw an article where an ACO took some dogs away from a man who had been
beating them with a baseball bat," she says. "And I decided I was going to
do my best to prevent that from ever happening again."
Allan Beckingham is the animal man of two small municipalities. He runs
both their animal services department and the local Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) chapter.
"I love getting out to meet people and getting the chance to help some
animals," says Beckingham. "It's kind of exciting because you never know what
the day will bring."
Like most ACOs, he's been in some pretty sticky situations. But he's learned
to laugh about them, to be glad he helped out.
"Once, a lady called to say she had a skunk stuck in her garden netting,"
says Beckingham.
"Sure enough, it was hopelessly tangled. It took forever to get it loose.
My friend cut away at the net while I held its tail down with a hockey stick.
There were a few tense moments standing there looking at that tail."