Captive audience

MAT-SU — Those who are regular visitors to the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Shelter in Palmer know Nick Uphus.

He’s a three-year veteran at the shelter and for the past year has been a deputy animal care and regulation officer. That means when a resident calls about a rogue dog in the neighborhood or about an animal bite, Uphus responds.

Frontiersman: What exactly does an animal control officer do?

Uphus: I guess it really varies. The range, based on our job description, involves anything relating to the animal shelter — assisting fire, police, other emergency personnel. The standard day involves reports of domesticated animal bites, loose dogs, cat, horses, goats, pigs, birds. We had a stray peach-faced lovebird. It’s a small, green bird with a peach-colored face.

F: What’s a typical call?

U: A lot of times the calls we get are a lot of written complaints. Most everything we do, I bet a rough estimate of 70 percent, is related to animals not being restrained. Dogs or cats — even purposely when people just let their animals loose or they break their tethers. They can be aggressive toward people, they can be injured, caught in traps. But typically it’s running loose and getting into garbage.

F: What kind of training do you need to be an animal control officer?

U: Most of my training was done here. There are several agencies across the country. The National Animal Control Association is one. The Code 3 (training) I went to recently was very good. I went to the equine investigation academy, and it was very in-depth on the horse. Typically, a horse neglect case involves starvation or dehydration, so we learn the digestive function of the horse and pretty detailed handling training.

F: What’s the worst case of animal neglect you’ve seen?

U: There have been numerous ones that I’m sure the Frontiersman has reported on. Those would be the worst, but they’re all bad. The most memorable neglected dog would be a dog who had a choke-chain collar that had completely been embedded in his neck. It basically went into his skin and all the skin had grown over it. They actually put another collar on top of it.

F: What’s the most memorable call you’ve responded to?

U: I guess, when I first started as an officer last winter, I was out in the field on my own. I got a call about two horses that had fallen through (the ice) of a creek and were stuck. Fortunately, by the time we got there, dive rescue had already got there. So Officer Matt Hardwig and I chiseled the ice from around them and, with the help from other rescue personnel, we were able to put slings around the horses and help lift them out.

F: If your dog or cat gets out, do you have any tips on how owners can catch them?

U: We actually have live traps here (at the animal shelter). You take them home, put some tuna, cat food or whatever a favorite treat is and, hopefully, you get it.

F: What’s the farthest you’ve chased an animal before catching it?

U: A lot of times we don’t chase. If the dog doesn’t want to be caught, we can’t catch it. They’re fast. It’s not like we’re in a city where we can run it down an alley or anything like that. You try to catch it with your voice or with a treat or something. We’ll typically have a trap in our truck we’ll set.

F: Have you ever been bitten or scratched? What’s the worst injury you’ve had working with animals?

U: I grew up on a dairy farm and there were a lot of smashed toes there. Here, fortunately, I’ve never been bitten. Slipping and falling on the ice is probably the worst. Typically, if you get bit or scratched here there was a way you could’ve prevented it from happening. If I get bit, more often than not, it’s going to be my fault.

F: What recommendations do you have for animal owners?

U: If there is one thing I would recommend is, first, get them spayed or neutered. The other is get a microchip. A microchip is just a radio frequency with a specific identification number attached to it.

F: What’s the most unusual animal you’ve caught?

U: Two days after Thanksgiving I had to go catch a stray turkey. It was a hen. It was right on the side of the Parks Highway right by a parking lot. Luckily, I got it on the first throw of the throw net, which is a weighted net we use for small animals. This one was really small, about four pounds, and it was a hen. Somebody adopted it.

F: Do you ever get emotional about the animals at the shelter?

U: That’s the hardest part of working here by far. Every call we get can be prevented. Our main goal here is to put us all out of work. Will that ever happen? No, but that’s the ultimate goal. It’s not easy. There are some animals that are severely injured and they don’t have an owner that loves them enough to take care of them. You can’t save every one.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.