The Daily O’Collegian

After being on the job for a few days, Carla Meadors received a call telling her a mountain lion was running through the streets of Stillwater.

It was her job to find and capture the giant cat.

Luckily for Meadors, the supposed mountain lion sighting turned out to be false.

But as an Animal Welfare Officer for Stillwater, Meadors has to be ready for anything.

“Things are different every day,” Meadors said. “We’ve had several somewhat strange calls.”

Although these calls do not often include mountain lion sightings, calls about loose goats, chickens, ferrets and even iguanas don’t seem too far from ordinary for the animal welfare officers.

Mary Dickey, Animal Welfare Shelter Director, said these cases spice up her job at the shelter.

“We get a lot of calls when people think they see something strange,” Dickey said. “Sometimes we hope it’s what they say it is. It makes it just that much more interesting around here.”

On one occasion, animal welfare officers had to chase a porcupine walking down Main Street. The majority of the time, however, the officers deal with loose dogs and cats.

The Animal Welfare division refers to these animals as “dogs at large” or “nuisance cats.”

Most of the time, these animals are anything but nuisances, which has helped Meadors take pleasure in her job.

It is unusual to hear about police officers who grow to adore and nurture those they capture, but Meadors has found love for those she chases daily, even if biting and barking come along with the job. She also said she enjoys the variety of animals she encounters on the job.

“Plus you get to interact with a lot of different animals and you don’t have to take them home,” Meadors said.

Being an animal welfare officer is not all about playing fetch with loose dogs or snuggling up close to stray cats. If an animal does not immediately go to the officer, the process of catching the animal can be tricky.

Officers do not have any protection to shield them from bites or scratches.

“There’s not a whole lot you can do,” Meadors said. “We have five-foot aluminum catch-poles with a cable that runs through it to catch the dogs.”

Although these poles do not sound like complete protection, Meadors has not been bitten since she began working as an officer in February.

Sometimes the officers must practice other techniques to catch stray dogs. This part of the job, Meadors said, is maddening.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than being out there in the middle of traffic trying to catch a dog,” she said.

Meadors, along with one other officer, patrols Stillwater throughout the week. Although they are dressed in blue and are a division of the Stillwater Police Department, these officers do not lock their captives in cages for long. They continue to work to find homes for these animals.

“You see a lot of happy and grateful people when you do happen to find their animal and they come in looking for it,” Meadors said.

Not all animals are brought back to the Animal Welfare shelter. In situations where the officers must deal with wildlife, they often must hire a licensed nuisance wildlife trapper to trap and relocate the animals. Most injured animals are taken to a vet, but if an animal is severely injured, the officers are trained to put down the animal.

Animal welfare officers not only work to capture animals but also respond to complaints about animal neglect and abuse.

Dickey said most of these cases are not serious and can usually be fixed by talking to the owner of the neglected animal. However, over the course of the 20 years Dickey has worked at the animal shelter, some cases of animal cruelty stand out.

One case that clings to Dickey’s mind made national news more than a decade ago. In August 1996, Whiskers the cat was found with a cut on his right ear, a cut tendon in one of his legs and cuts to the pads on his back feet. The cat’s abuser was found and prosecuted, but Dickey said she hopes the combined efforts of the animal welfare center along with the Humane Society can prevent such acts of abuse.

Part of this prevention process is finding proper homes for stray animals in Stillwater. In 1984, the Humane Society building and the animal welfare shelter conjoined in an attempt to raise the survival rate for captured or lost animals, Dickey said.

“The Humane Society’s mission has changed,” she said. “It went from preventing cruelty to animals to being more of an adoption agency.”

Since the partnership between the groups in ’84, the animal welfare officers continue to focus on bringing in animals and finding them homes. Animals that are not adopted or taken by a rescue organization are then sent to the Humane Society if there is space once their time at the shelter has expired. As a guaranteed placement organization, animals that are transferred there stay at the Humane Society until a home is found. The animals transferred there must be chosen from the Animal Welfare shelter if only a few spots remain, Dickey said.

“With our two organizations combined efforts, we find homes for most of our animals,” she said.

Beverly Shannon adopted her new cat from the Humane Society. She said she always adopts from shelters like that in Stillwater because she knows the animals need homes.

“Someone needs to take care of them,” she said. “I just want to help out as much as I can.”

After her last cat developed cancer and was put to sleep, Shannon began her search for a new pet on the Web site http://www.petfinder.com. There she found information about Avalon who was living at the Humane Society.

“This is such a good program,” Shannon said. “You’re not paying much and are helping animals. We all need help, whether you’re four-legged or two-legged.”

Like Shannon, Liz Rayburn is an animal lover. Although this OSU psychology senior cannot adopt a furry roommate from the Humane Society because she lives in an apartment, Rayburn does go there to play with the puppies and walk the dogs.

“I do it for fun because I wish I had a dog,” Rayburn said. “When the dogs see a person walk in, they just get so excited.”

Terry and Tammy Nixon have built their business on people like Rayburn and Shannon who want to see the best care for the animals in Stillwater. As the owners of Alice’s Ark, the Nixons offer pet boarding and grooming to pet lovers.

For owners who leave for vacation or go to work, the Nixons have set up 73 indoor and 73 outdoor runs to hold animals. These animal lovers don’t only take care of your everyday housecat.

“We do board ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, hedge hogs and even fish,” Tammy Nixon said.

While the Nixons provide the necessary care for each animal, some owners leave behind extra notes for the owners to ensure some additional care for their loved one.

“Some owners make home-cooked meals for their dogs,” Terry Nixon said. “Sometimes clients, while they’re on vacation, will send postcards here for their dogs. I’ve received some from overseas for their pets.”

On one occasion, some owners left their dog in the care of the Nixons. Before the trip, the owners dropped off one dog. After the trip, they took home seven dogs.

“The dog had puppies while the owners were on vacation,” Terry Nixon said. “They didn’t even know their dog was pregnant.”

Although some fascinating stories may occur occasionally at Alice’s Ark, the Nixons try to stick to a normal routine. After owning the business since 1991, they have found that although they operate a great deal because of others going on vacation, time away from the business rarely happens.

“This business ties you down,” Terry Nixon said. “We have to care for the animals seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Vacations are slim to none around here.”

Around vacation seasons, Alice’s Ark is packed full of animals as owners leave town. Winter break for OSU students is a busy time for the Nixons. As students leave town, many of their companions are left behind at Alice’s Ark.

The runs created to hold the animals are only one section of the business. The Nixons also do pet grooming. This includes haircuts, trimming toenails, bathing and dipping for fleas and ticks, Terry Nixon said. Pet grooming accounts for half of the Nixons’ business revenue.

Although scrubbing down dogs and cats does not seem enticing to some, the Nixons love being surrounded by their running, jumping and swimming friends.

“We just like working with animals,” Terry Nixon said.