Little Rock Animal Services Manager Tracy Roark estimates that his staff has caught about 200 stray animals by traps this year, and about 60 percent of those were euthanized because of illness or aggressive behavior.
The Animal Village, where animals are housed, doesn't keep records on what animals are captured with traps, so Roark doesn't know the exact figures. As of Tuesday, Animal Services officers had taken in 2,362 cats and dogs from the field this year. Those animals were either strays, lost pets off their leashes or animals that residents had called about.
Of the total number of cats and dogs taken from "in-field," 860 -- or 36 percent -- were euthanized. That percentage increases with animals caught by traps, Roark said, because many are wild and have never had human contact.
"Mainly, it's because a lot of times we will go in and it'll be sick cats in a location or some feral dogs. We'll have a situation where there will be 30 cats at a house," Roark said. "We will go in there and trap a bunch, and they will have real bad upper respiratory infection, and I'll have to put them down to save the rest of the kennel.
"Closer to 60 percent of trapped animals are euthanized just because of the situation we find them in."
In-field Supervisor Bernard Bracely sets between four and seven traps a day, and he checks them multiple times a day to prevent an animal from being left in one for a long time.
The wire cage is rigged so that when an animal walks to the back toward the food put there as bait, it steps on a lever that closes and locks the door.
More cats are trapped than dogs, but Bracely said he often gets calls from people about packs of dogs running loose through neighborhoods. For the past year, the Animal Services team has been tracking a pack in the South End neighborhood near the State Fairgrounds. A female yellow Labrador retriever, a male black Lab, two black Lab puppies and a German shepherd mix have been spotted roaming the area recently.
Bracely set a trap under a tree in a vacant lot in the neighborhood east of the State Fairgrounds and found an older male dog in there Thursday morning. Not long after, he checked another trap set near a building inside the fairgrounds and found that it had caught one of the small black Lab puppies.
The pup, which was about 2 months old and presumably born in the wild, growled as Bracely approached it. When Bracely reached his hand into the cage slowly and tried to calm the puppy by rubbing it, the dog tried to fight by jerking its head. But it wasn't too aggressive, and when Bracely picked up the animal by its neck, it calmed down.
When animals are captured, they are immediately taken to the Animal Village to be checked by staff and a veterinarian, if necessary. The animals are given shots and deworming treatments and are spayed or neutered.
If everything checks out, the animal can stay at the shelter, where volunteers will work with it to warm it up to humans. If an animal adapts over the next few days, it is put up for adoption after one week -- enough time to ensure that the animal doesn't have an owner searching for it.
But if an animal remains aggressive toward humans and other dogs, and the staff deems it unable to be adopted and unsafe to keep at the shelter, the animal is euthanized.
"It's good we caught this little guy early," Bracely said of the black Lab pup as he placed it in the back of the Animal Services vehicle. "If we hadn't have caught him until he was 2 or 3 years old, it might have been too late to socialize him. He would have never had any human contact.
"Now that we caught him early, our volunteers will hold him all day and rub on him, and he'll be adopted in no time. In a few days he'll be thinking, 'I wish that man had caught me earlier.'"
Bracely said the mother dog is too smart for the traps, so he plans to camouflage one in an attempt to trap her.
Next month, there is a dog show and a horse show scheduled at the fairgrounds, so he's hoping to trap the pack of dogs before then.
Strays disturb neighborhoods by eating food meant for pets and going through trash, Bracely said, adding that roaming packs are an alarming sight for residents.
It's not uncommon for animal divisions to set traps for stray dogs and cats.
In Memphis, Animal Services Director James Rogers said his department has at least three traps out per week, on average. Memphis sets traps only after a resident calls and complains. The department is larger than Little Rock's and takes in 12,000-15,000 animals per year.
Dallas also sets traps, but mostly for its "trap, neuter and release" program for feral cats that is run by a nonprofit that works with the city.
Little Rock doesn't have a neuter and release program. However, a local nonprofit group, Feline Rescue and Rehome, has operated such a program for feral cats in the area since 2007, according to the group's website.
For dogs, Dallas typically will set traps when residents complain enough about an area or will refer residents to where they can rent traps, according to the animal division's secretary.
"I find trapping a very good tool," Little Rock's Roark said. "It is very satisfying for citizens to know they are there. We want citizens to be safe, and we want the animals to be taken care of, too."
Residents wanting to trap an animal must follow certain guidelines, Roark said. First, the person must get approval from Animal Services to set the trap and must let Animal Services know when an animal is caught. Roark's biggest concern is that an animal will sit in a trap and suffer instead of being taken to the Animal Village for treatment and care.
As for the black Lab puppy that Bracely caught Thursday, staff members detected potential mange, which is easily curable.
On Friday morning, the pup -- identified as Intake No. 31749 -- was a little nervous and shaky after receiving his first bath. He's scheduled to see the veterinarian Monday and will be available for adoption Thursday.
"When they are born out in the wild, it's good to get them in here young," Bracely said. "He'll get used to humans in no time and become a good dog."
Metro on 07/27/2014