I just have to VENT here- please bear with me as I explain. I am soooo disappointed with our Animal control here in utah.
I went to a workshop tonight and as I was walking outside the building during a break during the workshop, I noticed something out of place on a window sill so I went closer to get a better look.
To my shock, it was a chicken/rooster and it's BADLY INJURED. There's blood all over its face, looks like one eye's missing and there's a big wound in one of the wings. It's huddled up on the windowsill.
I immediately went in and asked the volunteer at the front desk to call animal control to get assistance for this poor creature. This volunteer had no idea what to do so I basically had to tell him what to do- get the phone book out, look up animal control then call and get the number for emergency since most animal controls are closed between 5 pm to 9 am.
He called and was told that basically they won't do anything since it's just a chicken but after persistant nagging from me, they said they may send someone in the morning. WHAT?!
After the workshop, I just couldn't stop thinking about that poor thing. I hurried home and called the Animal Control. This is about 2 hours after the original call from where the workshop was held.
The dispatcher responded and said she has passed on the message to the officer but there wasn't much she could do. I explained how badly injured the rooster is and begged for someone to go out TONIGHT since I just couldn't take the thought of this creature suffering through the night. I was told that the officer would call me back after the dispatcher passed on my 2nd message within half an hour.
I waited, waited and waited but no calls so I called animal control after an hour and asked again.
At that point, the dispatcher was getting a bit annoyed (I don't blame her but come on!) with me and kept saying she has already passed on my message and there wasn't much she could do. I kept telling her I understood her position but would really like to talk to the officer so she promised to pass on the message and try to get him to call me back within half an hour. After another 15 minutes of waiting, the officer called me back and his attitude STUNK.
His first response was "It's just a chicken. So?"
I was like "WHAT? Excuse me!! Chicken do experience pain!"
He went on to explain that he has to follow the rules and the rules doesn't include chickens in emergencies so the best he could do was maybe send someone in the morning! Their view of emergencies are: dogs that are hit by cars, injured, cats injured, horses and big animals like that. HUH?! I asked him if Animal Control don't consider chicken an animal worth saving and he said "Sadly, that's correct." I was SPEECHLESS.
I asked about the possibility of the rooster being injured due to being in a cockfight since I coudln't think of how else it'd get that badily injured. Please keep in mind, I don't know much about roosters/chickens!! He said he doubted it was from cockfighting since they have had no reports of cockfighting here in Utah then went on to mention that cockfighting was LEGAL in NEW MEXICO and OKLAHOMA! Again, I was SPEECHLESS!!
After more nagging (nicely), he finally said either he or someone else will go in the morning to see about chcicken. I asked if he or the other person would call me in the morning so I could have some peace of mind and he wouldn't commit to it!
What is this world coming to that an agency that's dedicated to saving animals does not consider chickens/rooster an animal worth saving in an emergency?!I know Animal Control does not have enough personnel to cover everything but this is so SAD!!
I welcome any thoughts you may have about this since some of you guys are involved with animal control/animal rescue and may know a lot more about policies.
Crossing my fingers that this poor rooster survives to the morning and that it WILL be rescued and taken care of OR at least put to sleep so it won't continue suffering...
I went to a workshop tonight and as I was walking outside the building during a break during the workshop, I noticed something out of place on a window sill so I went closer to get a better look.
To my shock, it was a chicken/rooster and it's BADLY INJURED. There's blood all over its face, looks like one eye's missing and there's a big wound in one of the wings. It's huddled up on the windowsill.
I immediately went in and asked the volunteer at the front desk to call animal control to get assistance for this poor creature. This volunteer had no idea what to do so I basically had to tell him what to do- get the phone book out, look up animal control then call and get the number for emergency since most animal controls are closed between 5 pm to 9 am.
He called and was told that basically they won't do anything since it's just a chicken but after persistant nagging from me, they said they may send someone in the morning. WHAT?!
After the workshop, I just couldn't stop thinking about that poor thing. I hurried home and called the Animal Control. This is about 2 hours after the original call from where the workshop was held.
The dispatcher responded and said she has passed on the message to the officer but there wasn't much she could do. I explained how badly injured the rooster is and begged for someone to go out TONIGHT since I just couldn't take the thought of this creature suffering through the night. I was told that the officer would call me back after the dispatcher passed on my 2nd message within half an hour.
I waited, waited and waited but no calls so I called animal control after an hour and asked again.
At that point, the dispatcher was getting a bit annoyed (I don't blame her but come on!) with me and kept saying she has already passed on my message and there wasn't much she could do. I kept telling her I understood her position but would really like to talk to the officer so she promised to pass on the message and try to get him to call me back within half an hour. After another 15 minutes of waiting, the officer called me back and his attitude STUNK.
His first response was "It's just a chicken. So?"
I was like "WHAT? Excuse me!! Chicken do experience pain!"
He went on to explain that he has to follow the rules and the rules doesn't include chickens in emergencies so the best he could do was maybe send someone in the morning! Their view of emergencies are: dogs that are hit by cars, injured, cats injured, horses and big animals like that. HUH?! I asked him if Animal Control don't consider chicken an animal worth saving and he said "Sadly, that's correct." I was SPEECHLESS.
I asked about the possibility of the rooster being injured due to being in a cockfight since I coudln't think of how else it'd get that badily injured. Please keep in mind, I don't know much about roosters/chickens!! He said he doubted it was from cockfighting since they have had no reports of cockfighting here in Utah then went on to mention that cockfighting was LEGAL in NEW MEXICO and OKLAHOMA! Again, I was SPEECHLESS!!
After more nagging (nicely), he finally said either he or someone else will go in the morning to see about chcicken. I asked if he or the other person would call me in the morning so I could have some peace of mind and he wouldn't commit to it!
What is this world coming to that an agency that's dedicated to saving animals does not consider chickens/rooster an animal worth saving in an emergency?!I know Animal Control does not have enough personnel to cover everything but this is so SAD!!
I welcome any thoughts you may have about this since some of you guys are involved with animal control/animal rescue and may know a lot more about policies.
Crossing my fingers that this poor rooster survives to the morning and that it WILL be rescued and taken care of OR at least put to sleep so it won't continue suffering...
