WITH VIDEO: Removal of animals is a last option, but sometimes necessary, says officer | News, Sports, Jobs

News Photo by Julie Riddle Bev Smith Thursday holds a photo of one of 42 cats removed from her Alpena County home last year.

ALPENA – Bev Smith cried the day animal control took her cats away.

“I fed them, I loved them and I thought that was enough,” the Maple Ridge Township woman said Thursday, in a home free from the unsanitary conditions she and her husband were living in when workers removed 42 cats from his house last April. .

The job of an animal control officer sometimes means breaking the hearts of humans for the sake of the animals in their care — and for the sake of their caretakers, said Michelle Reid, County Animal Control Officer. Alpena.

As the county’s only animal control officer, Reid cannot return every call or check every animal. Even suspected hoarding situations sometimes have to wait while Reid tackles even more pressing requests, she said.

Watch the video below. Watch on mobile? Turn your device horizontally for the best viewing experience. The story continues below the video.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Animal Control Officer Michelle Reid consults with Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development veterinarian Dan Robb before visiting a beef farm in the township on Thursday of Green.

Many people are suspicious of animal control officers, accusing them of either negligent work or unfairly separating animals from their owners, Reid acknowledged.

But the work still needs to be done, she says.

“If I’m not here to protect animals,” Reid said, “and I’m not here to protect people from animals, who else is going to?”

“TOOK MY LIFE”

Smith knew her cats’ hoarding was out of control as she spent hours a day cooking chicken and rice for her cats, laundering the cabinets they climbed into, cleaning up after destroying food stores, and cleaning a hallway littered with cat feces.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Alpena County Animal Control Officer Michelle Reid plays with dogs during a kennel inspection at the home of Terri Haken, left, Thursday.

“They took over my life,” Smith said, recounting trying to care for the dozens of animals demanding food and attention and filling every space in her tiny home. “That’s a lot of chicken and rice.”

When health problems took her to hospital on several occasions, the situation worsened, with her husband unable to keep up with the cleaning and struggling to breathe in the unsanitary conditions.

Alerted to the cats’ fate, Reid obtained a warrant and drove to the house in April, removing the cats on the spot.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through,” Smith said, her eyes filling with tears as she sat at her kitchen table in a now clean and quiet home.

Smith credits Reid for saving her from a situation she couldn’t escape on her own.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Bev Smith, left, thanks Alpena County Animal Control Officer Michelle Reid at Smith’s Alpena County home Thursday. Smith removed 42 cats from Smith’s home last year.

“I knew I had too much,” Smith said. “But, when you like something, how do you let it go?”

IN SEARCH OF A FIX

Animal control officers aren’t trying to be the bad guy, Reid said as she walked in for an inspection Thursday.

A spiral notebook, hidden in his visor, contained pages of notes listing where residents had reported suspected cases of animal neglect or cruelty.

With just one person on the job, some of those complaints might never get a visit, Reid said.

These visits she makes start with a conversation, not an attack, she says.

“I like trying to work with people,” Reid said. “Can we fix it? Can it be an educational thing instead of a criminal one?

Animals will behave like animals, and it’s up to the humans around them to come up with solutions for issues like a dog bullying a mail carrier or running away from their yard, Smith said.

If pet owners make changes to keep their pets and neighbors safe, she doesn’t have to take the pets — and that’s always her preference, said Reid, who sometimes leaves a bag behind. of dog food or a load of hay for a kennel after his visits to help owners take the next step.

However, not everyone is willing to make such changes, she said – and that’s when she needs to remove animals from their homes.

A dairy farmer whose 40 cattle Reid recently found emaciated and with no food but straw was ordered to sell his herd, some of which were dead, their bodies left strewn on the ground.

The 10 Holsteins still in the farmer’s yard on Thursday were eating hay but hadn’t gained weight, according to state veterinarian Dan Robb, whose help Reid asked to remove the cattle – a complicated procedure in a county positive for bovine tuberculosis.

Reid will seek criminal charges of animal neglect and cruelty against the farmer, she said.

The farmer didn’t understand why Reid was harassing him, he told her.

BE THEIR VOICE

“It’s a lose-lose career choice,” said Reid, who was called “every name in the book” as she stood in people’s doorways, asking about their pets.

Most people think an animal control officer isn’t doing enough or is just trying to snatch animals from their rightful owners, Reid knows.

She does the work because animals need her to be their voice, Reid said, browsing reports of dogs chained to trees in the cold, kittens left for dead, pet rabbits homeless, horses left freely.

Humans caring for animals need help too, she said, sharing a photo she took the day before of a woman bitten by her dog.

The flesh of the woman’s cheek was hanging out, a deep laceration leaving her face numb.

Animals can hurt humans, and humans can hurt animals, and it’s an animal control officer’s job to help them all, Reid said.

“We rescued them, and then they had to be rescued from us,” Smith said Thursday of his 42 cats, as Reid stared at a plate of food on Smith’s kitchen floor.

Behind a closed door, Reid discovered two new cats.

“I’m not going to let you demote,” Reid told her, insisting that the couple call a veterinarian on site to schedule a neutering and neutering.

Smith readily agreed. No more hoarding, she promised.

“You can still have animals in your life,” Reid told Smith as he hugged her. “We’re just not going to let it go wrong again.”


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