Animal kingdom: Shelter attempts to keep up with rising pet population

Jean Whitlach didn't know what to do about her neighbor's loose horses that were destroying much of the yard around her home, including gardens in which she had invested many years' work and several thousands of dollars. So she called Mat-Su Animal Care and Regulation, not knowing she would be told it was up to her to catch one of the offending horses so it could be hauled away. She did, but, much to her chagrin, a few hours after doing so she discovered the horse was back in the neighbor's yard.

And she didn't expect to be told by Alaska State Troopers that if Animal Care wouldn't respond, she could post her property with "no trespassing" signs and legally shoot the stray animals. But most of all, she didn't expect to be told by the then-Animal Care Chief Officer James Rau that shooting the animal was a good solution.

"[When he spoke to the Knik Community Council] he really acted like that was our best shot to solve the problem in our neighborhood," Whitlach said. "Somehow I don't think that's right."

As Whitlach told assembly members during their Aug. 6 meeting, she followed the instructions she had received by Animal Care officers one morning in May and caught a horse that had been regularly visiting her yard to eat her plants. The horse was munching on her shrubbery and she enticed it with a bucket of carrots, tied it to a tree and called Animal Care officers. The officers responded with a trailer. When they arrived, however, Whitlach said one officer was on the cell phone, embroiled in a personal conversation while the other officer waited for the phone call to finish. After watching and waiting herself, Whitlach said she attempted to help the waiting officer get the horse into the trailer. After no success, Whitlach said the officer on the phone called the Animal Care shelter and spoke with Rau, who indicated they may be able to sedate the horse to ease the transport, but they weren't able to do so at the time.

"They told me they were going to leave … that they'd put food in the trailer and when the horse got tired, it'd go in the trailer," Whitlach said.

Whitlach said she had to leave to attend a business-related meeting and when she came back two hours later, she drove by her neighbor's yard on her way home and saw the horse in its pen. The Animal Care officers were gone and the trailer was still in her yard, with food inside.

"The animal owner trespassed on my property and retrieved the animal," Whitlach said.

Not satisfied with the response she received, she said she then went to the Alaska State Troopers to find out what other options she had. She was told posting "no trespassing" signs would be sufficient notice to allow her to protect her life and property with any means she deemed necessary, she said.

Whitlach said she was uncomfortable with the solution, but resolved that she would take matters into her own hands. She posted the property and, as expected, a horse returned.

"I did shoot at it, into the ground," Whitlach said. "I just couldn't bring myself to kill the horse -- it's just an animal, it's not its fault."

After the incident, and the subsequent property defense that left Whitlach more upset, she said she requested that the situation be dealt with at the community council meeting. She said she received little satisfaction at the meeting where Rau and Borough Mayor Tim Anderson spoke.

"All he did was tell us what he couldn't do," Whitlach said. "There was nothing he could do."

Whitlach said after that meeting, she was directed to speak with Animal Care and Regulation Advisory Board chair Betty Vehrs, who suggested she present the situation to the assembly.

After testifying to the assembly about the sequence of events surrounding the horse situation, Whitlach said she received a call from an animal control officer that indicated her experience with the department would likely not be repeated. She said she was instructed to call acting Borough Public Safety Director Jack Krill if the offending horses appeared, and was given contact numbers to reach him any time, day or night.

"I was so pleased that somebody was finally telling me that there was something we can do," Whitlach said. "That's all I asked in the first place."

Krill said he and Animal Care officer Mark Thomas had visited the owner of the horses and looked at the facilities in which the horses were kept. If the horses get out again, he said, he planned to have an administrative order issued to prevent the release of the horses until the fenced area in which they are kept is deemed adequate to contain them.

"The frustration the public has experienced hasn't been due to indecisiveness on the officers' part," Krill said, "but due to the direction they've been given."

Signs of trouble

Whitlach's experience is just one of a few that have been heard by the assembly at recent meetings. But it brings to light several things Borough Manager John Duffy said he had been receiving calls about -- problems with customer service, efficiency and other performance-related issues. And, to Vehrs, it was a sign of a breakdown.

Vehrs, in 2000, began volunteering approximately six days a week, sometimes more than eight hours a day at the shelter. She also led the charge to develop and Animal Care and Regulation Advisory Board and see that it was staffed. As she got involved, Vehrs said, she saw room for improvement.

"One of the first things I noticed was … they didn't microchip any dogs," Vehrs said. Borough Code, Title 24, states that animals released from the facility must be microchipped. But animals that were being adopted out were leaving without a microchip, as were animals that were released into the custody of their owners. That was one example, she said, of the problems she saw at the borough's only shelter. And only one of several she has heard about while serving on the Animal Care board. In fact, in July, she told the assembly she was fed up with hearing the complaints and decided the complaints should be heard by those who have a chance of finding solutions.

"I've given three years of my time to doing every conceivable thing I can to improve customer service and quality of care …" Vehrs told the assembly. "I have to say, I think I'm the only one who cares about changing at this point. I got calls about lack of respect and rudeness … I told them to come here."

Vehrs said she was frustrated that Rau had not tried to address the complaints or resolve the problems brought forward at the Animal Care board meetings.

"He was not even going through the … motions," Vehrs said.

Duffy said he, too, was hearing from people dissatisfied from the response they received when contacting Animal Care.

"So I [was] getting more phone calls, people are now showing up at assembly meetings -- we needed to address that," Duffy said. "We're all in this together."

And it was addressed.

After the assembly's July 23 meeting, Animal Care and Regulation officers and staff, along with then-chief officer Rau, met with Duffy, Krill and borough Human Resources director Patricia Von Ah. It was after that meeting, Duffy said, that Rau and the borough administration agreed that the department would be better served under different leadership.

A rocky past

Animal control in the Mat-Su Borough, as anywhere, is a topic most people would rather ignore.

"Animal Control has always been a controversial issue," Krill said. He said it has had its share of controversy since he began working at the borough in 1983 -- and said he had dealt with animal control issues in his home state of Pennsylvania, where he served on the city council for many years. "The controversies that we're faced with here are not unique to us," Krill said.

Animal control has been provided by borough staff since 1994. Prior to that, the Mat-Su Humane Society provided service, but their agreement was cut short when their insurance was canceled and society officials told borough administration they could no longer uphold their end of the contract.

After the borough took over operations at animal control, five permanent positions were created, but it went through a rocky first year when borough administration was still looking for alternatives to borough oversight. In 1995, John Scott was hired as the supervisor of animal control while then-Public Safety Director Kevin Koechlein wore the added hat of chief animal control officer. Koechlein acted as animal control chief for more than two years until, in March 1997, Anthony Gonzales came on board. It was under Gonzales' lead that Vehrs took on the resuscitation of the defunct animal control board, a board that previously only had appellate powers and met only when there was an appeal to a decision made by animal control officers.

Vehrs, with the backing of the borough assembly and administration, put out the call for people concerned with animal issues. That group of people went on to staff the board and make changes to Title 24 to raise the board to advisory status. They discussed what they hoped was a new direction for animal control in the borough and, as a symbol of that new direction, changed the division's name to Animal Care and Regulation.

Gonzales had the longest tenure as chief -- he held the position until his resignation last July, nine days after he had been charged with drunken driving. At that time, Koechlein began a comprehensive search to find a new animal control officer, a search that resulted in Rau's hire almost a year ago.

A delicate balance

When asked why a comprehensive search involving interviews before a panel of people after a strict review process produced a candidate that, a year later, is no longer with the borough, Duffy said if anything, the review process was too balanced.

"When we look at it this time, we'll at least be looking at a more community-based [candidate]," Duffy said. "We're not looking for someone who's into the 8 to 5, who goes to work just because that was what they did the day before. We're looking for someone who has some vision -- who wants to take the place somewhere."

Duffy said he envisions an animal control setup that is envied by other boroughs, even other states. That, he said, is his goal for the entire borough governmental setup. But that's not tomorrow -- it's a process that will be made up of many small steps, today.

A team effort

If you start with good ingredients, it's easy to make a great product. It's no different with running a government. If you have good components -- good people, a working facility, access to resources -- chances are good you can be successful. And Krill said he's very confident in the skills and abilities of the people now at Animal Care.

"Every worker, every member is valuable and they have something to contribute," Krill said. "I'm going to look for their input, their ideas, their recommendations."

Krill said his working philosophy is similar to what has helped him through the reorganization of the borough emergency medical and fire service. By relying on the people in the field with technical skills to make suggestions about how operations can be better managed, Krill said, the outcome is happier people working in an efficient environment. And at Animal Care, it's working

already.

"In the last two weeks, I'm really impressed with the way they've responded to the flexibility we've given them," Krill said.

A tough job

The work at Animal Care is not easy. Three officers are on staff working five eight-hour shifts on most weeks, with an officer on call seven days a week. When one officer is on vacation, or on reduced duties due to an injury -- as has been the case for officer Donnie Darilek, who experienced serious injuries after wrestling an energetic, new-to-a-leash malamute pup down an icy hill in the winter -- it means everyone has to work even harder.

While Darilek was on reduced duties, Robin Daniels was out for maternity leave. Darilek filled in at the shelter and officers Mark Thomas and Sandy Williams worked to fill in where they could. All the shuffling meant that when July rolled around the officers were backlogged with cases -- some of which dated back to March. Although most of those calls have been cleared up and the earliest backlogged calls now date back to the last days of July, Darilek is still on limited duty and is unable to lift animals into her truck. She is responding primarily to welfare checks and barking dog calls, while Williams and Thomas handle more of the loose or aggressive dog calls or calls involving bites.

"During the interim here, the pressure is high to keep us staffed at just the minimum level," Darilek said.

What makes their job more difficult is that the officers respond to calls throughout the nearly 25,000 square miles that make up the borough.

"We cover from Cantwell to Lake Louise -- almost to Glennallen," Darilek said. "We've had cases in Skwentna that we've had to treat as a Trapper Creek case and have the people meet us in Trapper Creek."

When emergency cases such as bites are called in from the far corners of the borough, officers are obligated to respond, although the trip alone can mean one officer is gone for the day.

Darilek said about half of her job can be attributed to counseling and arbitration. And a lot of those cases can be linked to neighborhood feuds. So many so, in fact, that officers enter a code in their computer files linked to the names, forewarning other officers of the ongoing issue. Neighborhood feuds often mean a significant amount of officer time is spent on the phone with each party, attempting to reach a resolution. And what it often boils down to is a differing philosophy in pet care that has crossed property lines.

"People are very passionate about their pets," Williams said.

Darilek said many of the feud calls start with "I love animals but …" and, when the other party responds, they answer "But I love animals and I think …" Fill in the blanks with "my neighbor's cat dug up my garden," and "I think cats should run free," and you can easily understand how many of the feuds get started. It's not long before it escalates and neighbors are responding to issued citations with retaliatory calls to Animal Care and the disagreement spirals out of control. Sometimes, as indicated by tongue-in-cheek posters in Darilek's cubicle indicate, it would make more sense to put the owners in kennels instead of the animals.

"People's concepts of how to care for animals differs greatly," Krill said. "A certain degree of tact and diplomacy has to be used -- there are times when animal care and regulation officers have to act in the best interest of the animal."

But like many of the situations they face on a daily basis, the officers have developed methods of responding that include public education of how the system works, as well as enforcement.

Building a solid foundation

Instances of conflict face animal care officers every day in the borough, and those are the situations in which it's most critical that officers keep a cool head and have their feet grounded in reality -- and perform their duties with an eye toward customer service.

Customer service is one of the cornerstones of a solid animal care facility agreed Krill, Duffy and animal care officers. Their focus, as set out in Title 24, is customer service and animal care. And as a result of the restructuring at the shelter, an emphasis is being made on customer service. Animal care officers and shelter staff will be taking monthly customer service training courses through the borough's human resources department.

The public is being asked to help in the process. Krill said visitors to the shelter will be asked to sign in and provide their phone number. Those people, he said, will be randomly contacted and asked to rate the customer service they received. Calls to the shelter will be randomly monitored, and callers will be greeted with a recording notifying them of the change. Officers in the field will hand out customer service cards to the people they contact. And hopefully, Krill said, they'll be able to use the information to strengthen customer service. It's a public facility, he said, and it's important that Animal Care staff promote the work they do.

"We've got to sell the

facility," Krill said.

Another facet of building up the public image of the facility, Krill said, is cleanliness. He said as fire chief he's always been a stickler on proper cleanliness and maintenance of the public facilities and equipment -- the shelter should be no different.

"The buildings belong to the public," Krill said. "We're charged with taking care of the equipment and the buildings. And … if we have a clean facility, to me, it also displays that we care about the animals."

Darilek agreed.

"It's criminal to make [an animal] lay there in feces," Darilek said. She said shelter staff are redoubling their efforts to make the kennels and cattery "clean, disease free and attractive to the public."

To help, Krill said Darilek recently secured the donation of two ionizers -- one for the cattery and one for the kennels. In addition, several changes have been made to the venting system in the kennels and fans will be going in to help circulate air in the cattery.

Krill said his goal is to bring the facility into line with the advisory board's vision for the shelter, to keep the board involved in operations at the shelter.

"It's been a philosophy I held with fire service boards for years," Krill said. "Keeping them informed, keeping them in the loop is very important."

And the board is committed to supporting the staff. Vehrs said at a board meeting last week, a recommendation was passed requesting borough administration look into extending the contract for Marcell Martin, who recently completed a study of the borough's EMS and fire service departments. The board requested she complete a similar study for animal control.

That study has not yet been approved, but the board is not letting that hinder their progress. They're also launching into a revision of Title 24, to bring it up to date and make it simple to understand, as well as a revision of Animal Care's policies and procedures manual. Now housed in a 22-tab binder, Animal Care officers said the manual is often hard to use and cumbersome.

Other changes are in the works -- added support and new direction for shelter volunteers, a key component of the success of the shelter. The volunteer coordinator who will soon be working with fire and EMS volunteers will also oversee the shelter volunteers and volunteers with the division of recreational services, helping recruitment efforts and making the volunteer program workable for a broad range of people.

In many ways, Krill said, the setup at Animal Care is being rebuilt with an eye toward the future.

"We're going to keep it simple, stay with the basics," Krill said. "We've got to rebuild the foundations -- we'll do great things after that."

Whitlach said she learned about the changes going on at Animal Care recently and is hopeful that situations like hers won't be repeated.

"I do realize things are changing over there and I really believe they're for the better," Whitlach said.