Shelter welcomes all kinds of strays

April 21, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

Bob Bassett gripped the rope tightly as a rambunctious 500-pound bull dragged him across a residential yard earlier this month.

As a technician at the Mat-Su Animal Care and Regulation Office, Bassett wears many hats. But on April 12, he responded to an unusual call regarding livestock on the loose near Snowshoe Elementary School in the Fairview Loop area.

Bassett arrived on the scene with a lasso in hand.

&#8220The bull was going around beating up on people's vehicles,” Bassett recounted Wednesday. &#8220He was also attacking garbage cans.”

Bassett got close enough to rope the bovine, but once lassoed, it took off across a yard, dragging Bassett behind. It wasn't until the bull went around a tree that Bassett was able to tie it off and later lure it into a trailer to haul back to the animal shelter barn.

The moment with the adventurous bull wasn't the first time Bassett has had to rope a lumbering livestock while working for the animal shelter.

&#8220Last year, I ended up lassoing a 400-pound pig, and it took three of us to get him in the trailer,” he said. &#8220We get all kinds of situations here.”

While the care of standard domestic cats and dogs comprises the bulk of the animal shelter's services, oddball visitors are not at all uncommon.

&#8220Last week we had seven horses and a goat come in,” said shelter assistant Robin Daniels. &#8220We get iguanas in once in a while, and a couple years ago we had a hedgehog.”

Other critters that pass through the shelter have included ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, goldfish, turtles, peacocks, scorpions, tarantulas and many types of waterfowl.

&#8220Last summer we even had a corn snake,” Daniels added.

What makes the bull particularly unusual is not only his size, but also the fact that no one seems to know where it came from or whom it belongs to.

Shelter staff checked to see if any of the surrounding neighbors knew of the bull or his owner.

&#8220No one claimed him,” Bassett said.

Like all animals that head for the shelter, the bull is up for adoption.

If no one takes it by April 28, it will head for the auction block at 5 p.m. that night in the shelter's parking lot.

The animal will go to the highest bidder. People may view him during normal shelter business hours - 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

Animal officer Matt Hardwig is helping care for the bull since it arrived and has even tried to play sports with it by letting it chase around a yellow soccer ball. Hardwig, no small man, admitted that the bull is definitely a match.

&#8220Just getting him in the trailer was pretty exciting,” he said. &#8220He's definitely a little aggressive.”

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266 or joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.