Time To Appreciate Montclair's Animal Control Team - Baristanet

The current Montclair Township Animal Control Officer Team: (left to right) Officer Jarrett Kennedy, Officer Ryan Urbano, Officer Shaune Jones, ACO Supervisor Officer Michele Shiber.

This week – April 10th to 17th – is National Animal Control Officer Appreciation Week. Animal Control Officers (ACOs) are often your unsung heroes. They often work out of public view, sometimes in the dark of night, and off the beaten path. These Emergency Responders are available 24/7/365. They're the best resource you never knew you needed!
The number one job of Animal Control is to control the spread of rabies. The number one job of pet owners is to keep pets current on immunizations. Important history and information on rabies can be found here.

ACOs have a busy schedule — capturing injured/sick animals, investigating dog bite incidents, helping shelter animals get adopted, enforcing state and local dog and cat licensing laws, providing surrender-prevention services, dealing with dog barking complaints, reuniting stray animals with their owners, conducting animal cruelty/abuse/neglect investigations, and removal of deceased animals from public property, to name a few. See the complete list of services that your Animal Control Officers provide the residents of Montclair here.

ACOs educate residents about what are or are not valid concerns/complaints about wildlife, from skunks to groundhogs to deer to foxes/coyotes. Montclair Animal Control is proud to be a part of Humane Society's Wild Neighbors Program.

No two days are the same for an ACO. One day there could be a few emergencies that require their immediate attention, another they're in the kennels socializing dogs and showing cats to prospective adopters. Sometimes they're saving a raccoon stuck in the sewer grating, or capturing an injured goose in the park to bring it to a wildlife rehabilitator. It's not unheard of for them to be rescuing ducklings from storm drains or fawns from the local waterway or rattlesnakes from parking lots, either.

You'll often see one of them at a local vet with a shelter animal or two, mostly for pre-adoption checkups and/or vaccinations. They also speak at schools and scout events, hold off-site adoptions and host the Township's free rabies clinics.

Animal Control may be reached at 862-621-9113 or by calling the Police Department: 973-744-1234.

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