SUBMITTED ARTICLE
MONTEREY COUNTY — In honor of National Animal Care and Control Protection Week, April 9 through 15, the Monterey County Health Department recognizes the staff and officers of the Monterey County Animal Shelter.
Gone are the days when the term Animal Care Services referenced staff rounding up loose dogs and impounding them in the local shelter.
Today, reality is that Animal Control Officers and the Animal Care Services Teams aid and support, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, not generally evident to the public. They strive to protect and preserve the well-being of both domestic and wild animals. Their jobs entail hazardous assignments, rabies prevention and rescuing animals and pets from injury, disease and starvation.
All year long Animal Control Officers patrol busy streets, providing rabies control, animal complaint mediation, educating the public, assisting law enforcement, conducting investigations and finding shelter for thousands of homeless animals. The Animal Control Officers care for abandoned animals, rescue strays, apprehends and tests potentially rabid animals as well as quarantining dogs and responding to reports of dog bites and other vicious dog situations. And, when natural disasters arise, they provide emergency rescues with limited or few resources.
The Animal Control Officer is the person who will be in the field responding to the animal care needs and concerns of the citizens of Monterey County. The duty might only be as unsung a task as reuniting a lost pet with its rightful owner, but overall the rewards are great.
The staff of Monterey County Animal Services deal with abandoned animals, rescue strays, apprehends and tests potentially rabid animals as well as quarantining dogs and dealing with dog bites and other vicious dog situations.
In the Shelter, staff cares for sick, injured and abandoned animals. Office staff are busy tracking down owners who have lost their dogs and arranging for licensing and microchipping to not only keep it from happening again, but to try and effect a county wide rabies control. If shelter animals are unclaimed, then the long process begins of trying to adopt them to good homes or placing them in one of the rescue groups who in turn will ensure they find good homes.
All of this is to reduce the number of euthanasia procedures as much as possible. The clinic staff performs as many spay and neuter procedures as possible to control animal population and ensure the health of these animals.
Moving forward, the staff at Monterey County Animal Services strives to build on the successes they have already accomplished. With the help of the community and through education and public awareness, this work becomes easier, but staff stands out as the unsung heroes of the animal world in Monterey County and truly deserve recognition and thanks.
Staff has helped to promote the mission of the Shelter to protect, promote and enhance the health, safety and quality of life for companion animals and other abandoned animals, as well as for the people of Monterey County.
The National Animal Control Association has designated April 9 through 15 as Animal Care and Control Protection Week. Their vision is to be recognized and respected in the field of animal services and protection by providing quality services, education, training and support.
