STARKVILLE — Not too long ago, an animal control officer was simply “the dog catcher.”
Equipped with a net attached to a pole and a pickup truck outfitted with kennels, the dog catcher fetched the rabid dogs from the neighborhood and kept everyone safe. These days, animal control officers carry guns and deal with more than nuisance dogs. On any given day, an animal control officer will respond to calls about vicious pit bulls, snakes and lizards.
Starkville Police Department Animal Control Officer Rich McKee has seen a little bit of everything in his eight years on the job. McKee, a Starkville native, previously worked with nuisance wildlife, like alligators, beavers and coyotes, in Buffalo, N.Y., and Florida.
McKee is one of two animal control officers for SPD.
What made you want to be an animal control officer?
I”ve always enjoyed working with animals. I”d moved back down to Starkville and was working with nuisance wildlife, doing a lot of relocation, with my own little company, Wild Wild Pest.
What”s a typical day like for you? More time doing paperwork or in the field?
Out in the field, definitely. I know Tuesday, I had 30 calls. But usually it”s around 20 calls a day.
We work with a lot of wildlife, too. A lot of loose dogs, injured animals. I”ve always said, anything from hummingbirds to emus. We actually had emus get out in the highway years ago. We never did identify the owner. People were turning them loose after they realized it costs so much to raise them.
I”m guessing the job requires an affection for animals. That said, how do you balance controlling the population with knowing so many animals get put down?
When they hired me, it was for public safety and that”s priority number one. Of course, the welfare of the animals is important. You see a lot of things, a lot of neglect and it makes you wonder sometimes. You just keep plugging along. You hear about the good things, and that helps.
How does this office work with the Humane Society?
Of course, all the animals we pick up we take down there. If there”s a problem down there, we try to get involved and deal with it. We”re kind of on the same page. I had two calls from there today about having two kittens but not the mother. We go out and try to find the mother.
How would you say Starkville”s vicious dog ordinance has worked out?
Real well. We put a lot of work into that ordinance and a lot of people were involved. We looked around the country at things that were working and things that weren”t. It”s held up real well. Of course, there”s always more work to do.
You guys help the Oktibbeha County Sheriff”s Office when they request it. You”re bound to get more calls when the county passes a vicious dog ordinance. How do you foresee that affecting you and the staff?
I”m consulting with them a little bit. We”re obviously gonna get a lot more calls. Depending on what they pass, there are gonna be alot more animals involved in going to the shelter. But it”s hard to say because nobody knows what they”re going to do.
It”s kind of apples and oranges comparing the city and county, given the density of the city. What advice would you give the supervisors/OCSO on handling the ordinance?
We did talk about a leash law, which there again I don”t know if it will pass. We talked about the kind of problems we have in the city and the way we deem a dog dangerous. They”re looking at our ordinance and seeing what they think might work. We see neglect at both ends. Unfortunately, 90 percent of the neglect we see is with pit bulls. I know there are good, responsible owners, but that”s just that stat. With that breed, they get mistreated.
How many times have you been bitten?
About five times. Nothing real serious. No stitches.
What”s the most bizarre animal situation you”ve had to respond to?
There”s been quite a few. The most recent one, my partner got a call about a pigeon a couple of streets over. It had two bands on it”s legs, so she Googled it and the bird was from Richmond, Va. The bird was supposed to be in Atlanta training for a race. They shipped us a box and we sent it back. Pretty crazy.
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