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Show mwmmmmmm 1 , 'll Fchruary 2X. 1'ISII - The Sprinpville Herald - V:ne Five 'ww ' t M It'. Steele loads a cat into the truck to take it to the roaming free, but they can be as big a nuisance as pound. Springville has no ordinance against cats dogs, he says. Steele w ashes out the pens at the animals shelter and has had up to :i(t dogs at a time impounded, with a hose. The city shelter has 12 pens, he says, Springville's animals create public problem Ernie Steele grabs a dog to load it into the truck. Last year the city had to destroy 1600 animals that were picked up. MAYO FACTORY OUTLET SAVINGS ON CHILDREN VESTS LADIES TERRV TOPS QUILTSIDE AND BATTING TO MAKE YOUR OWN QUILTS MAYO SPRING & SUMMER HOURS 1-5 TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS 10-2 ON SATURDAY 489-9411 717 NO. MAIN A small dog presses against a larger one in the pen they share for five days at the local shelter. .a a. mm) an 0 N : ' U U PRICE H I TRA1NLOAD PRICE Buy Both For Only 62990 Hamilton Sbctric Supply "WholMl4 Ritill" Blair R. Hamilton ooi 1533 North Mam Phone 798-4435 SPANISH FORK, UTAH 84660 Continued from page I If someone goes to the shelter and wants to buy an animal, he is charged only the $1 a day food bill. "We have people really upset that we pick up their dogs," Steele said,- "but if people would take care of their dogs, they would not be impounded." Springville's city ordinances include a leash law for dogs, he said, but it is not strictly enforced. "We give them a little leeway. If a dog is in its own yard, we don't pick it up. But if it gets two houses or 1 , block from home, the dog will be picked up" Springville has no ordinance restricting restric-ting cats, but about half of the animals picked up and killed are cats, Steele said. Cats are not kept for the five days required for dogs before they are disposed of. Cats, although there is no ordinance against them running loose, can be as big a public nuisance as dogs, Steele said. They can be as destructive in scattering and tearing up garbage in garbage cans, and their bite is much more dangerous than a dog's. Steele related one instance when he was bit by a cat and was sick for three weeks with blood poisoning. Shelter Steele washes out the shelter twice a day and the other animal control officer does it twice on her shift. The animals arejed once a day, but Steele said they always have access to food. Steele also cares for the animals on Sunday, his day off. Animals are kept in a small concrete shelter built three years ago near the sewer plant. The shelter replaced an earlier one on the same site. "We've had so many problems with people screaming about having to leave their dogs in two extra days if they don't pick them up on a Friday night that now we can release the dogs after 5 p.m. every day, and on weekends," he said. If a dog is picked up with license tags on its collar, the owner is notified immediately im-mediately that it has been impounded. Most people whose dogs have licenses care enough about them to pick them up, Steele said, "but 95 percent of the dogs that are picked up are not licensed. licen-sed. "We've sure got a lot of people around this town that don't think much of their dogs." If a dog which is not licensed is picked up, the owner is required to buy a license before having it released. Most of the dogs that are picked up look well cared for, he said. However, most of them are also destroyed because no one picks them up. Gas chamber After a dog has been in the pound for approximately five days, it is put to sleep. The dogs are destroyed with carbon monoxide gases, said Steele. A water tank has been hooked up to a small gas chamber in which the dog is placed. Connecting the truck's exhaust to the water tank, Steele turns on the truck. Poisonous vapors from the exhaust filter through the water tank, which cools them so that the dog will not be burned, and goes into the gas chamber. After about 30 seconds, the dog falls painlessly to sleep. The water tank was installed, Steele said, after it was discovered that the direct exhaust could burn the animal's lungs. The animals are killed in groups of about seven or eight. "It is all done according to Humane Society standards. The dogs aren't in any pain," Steele said. In addition to dogs and cats, part of the animal control job includes handling handl-ing a variety of other animals. If a horse is loose, and the owner can't be found, it is hauled in a trailer to a pen near the shelter where it is kept for a few days and then auctioned off. Other livestock, such as cows and pigs are handled in the same way. Large livestock In the years Steele has worked as animal control officer, he has found large livestock to be both frustrating and dangerous. Trying to load a stubborn pig into the city trailer one day. he stepped back, took a running start and rammed into the pig's rear with his shoulder. The pig didn't move, but Steele's shoulder did, the muscles and ligaments tearing away. Before the city acquired the trailer, Steele had to lead large livestock across town, a process that often took several hours. One day, he was leading an Angus bull through town tied to the back of his truck. When he got to the intersection of 200 South and Main, the bull got tired of being led and took off in another direction, pulling the truck and its driver in a circle in the intersection. "I was never so embarrassed in my life as then," Steele said. One year, a series of incidents of dogs killing sheep kept Steele busy. Several local sheep owners lost their entire herds to dogs, he recalled. Once a dog learns to kill livestock, it must be destroyed. "If a dog is biting livestock, knock it away with a water hose or a stick or something, but don't grab the livestock," Steele said. Relating a recent incident in which a woman grabbed a chicken a dog was biting and was bit herself. If a dog bites, it is kept in a holding pen for several days until it is determined deter-mined it does not have rabies. If a dog is picked up twice for biting someone, it is destroyed. "We have a lot of dog bits in the summer," Steele said. "When dogs get hot they don't want to be touched, and they bite." Wild animals, which Steele picks up occasionally, must be handled carefully, particularly ones like skunks. ' 'W'e usually shoot a skunk and take it to the dump, but sometimes you come out smelling like a skunk," he said. "Sometimes you can get it fast enough and put it in a plastic bag, but eighty percent of the time, we'll get skunk oil on us. If it's not bad, you can get it off with -soap and water, but I've had to take a bath in tomato juice." Badgers, muskrats, owls, snakes, porcupines "so many different animals you just can't believe" are part of the job, said Steele. Animal are grabbed using a long pole with a looped rope, on the end, he said. All wild animals except beavers are put to sleep. Beavers are taken into the canyon and let loose because of their value to trappers. "I've handled two young mountain lions that got loose in Springville." When he took the job as animal control officer, Steele had no training in how to catch and handle the animals, but he learned as the situations came up. "I'm still learning. Each day is a different experience." Through the years, he has become well-acquainted with the animals in town, and they have gotten to know him. "Some of those dogs they see my little w hite truck and they're gone like a shot," he said. "We follow the dog home and issue a citation. At one time, if a dog beat me home, it was free, but now we pick up the tame ones and issue citations to the people whose dogs got home." "I love animals" "People in our town can't believe I'm an animal lover," said Steele. "But I love animals as good as the next person." per-son." Steele owns two small dogs, a hunting dog and a horse. "It's hard on kill day to have to put some of those dogs to sleep. It's hard not to get attached to them. There have been some I've really gotten attached to. It's a killer to have to put them to sleep." "People don't stop to realize just how big Springville is," he added. "I was turned into the mayor and the chief for not being at a certain location right away, but there's a lot more people than one depending on me." Steele said he feels he has overcome the "dog catcher" image among the children in town. "I truly feel like the kids love me in this town. I take a lot of time with the kids and joke with them and talk to them like they were grownups. I have a good relationship with the kids." Educating children by making presentations at the local school has made the public more aware of the animal problem in Springville than talking to parents, would have he said. A call over the police scanner directed Steele to pick up a dog at 700 East 100 South. "10-4," he said, as he turned the corner to go to another "dog detail." ft .. (-. MW Men seldom, or rather never for a length of time and eliberately, rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against. Carlyle Russia competed in the Olympic Games, revived in 1896, for the first time in 1952. There are about species of oysters. 100 Schouten Optical "The best care in sight" Eyes examined for glasses and contact lenses Wide selection ot frames In Orem at Carillon Square West of Wolfes 224 3133 Alan Carter received his Eagle Scouting award in a ceremony performed Feb. 15. He is the son of Ronald K. Carter, Springville and Mary N'orthrup, American Fork. His grandparents are Margaret R. Carter and Mr. and Mrs. Golden Carter, Springville. He is the second member of the family to receive the Eagle award. His older brother, Brian, received his in 1978. 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