LOST in Leelanau — Part II

By Pat Stinson
Sun contributor
What follows is the continuation of a story we ran on June 14, with a not so cheery ending. We hope you’ll like this conclusion much more.
Leelanau County Animal Control Officer Paul Peschel took my little, lost Boston Terrier buddy, Grumpy, in the pet carrier to Cherryland Humane Society. Officer Peschel said Grumpy lived up to his temporary nickname while being transferred from the carrier to the shelter cage. After recently giving a little of his trust to a stranger (me) and having it abruptly taken away, Grumps was entitled to his grouchiness. Some lost animals that display aggressive tendencies while roaming free settle down once they are accustomed to their cage and the care of the shelter attendants, he said. I hoped that would be the case with Grumpy.

“A dog acts differently than when it’s just me chasing it around with a bite stick, (stick with a noose on one end),” he explained.
In the summer months, Officer Peschel responds to 70 to 80 complaints per month, anywhere in the county. The exception is the National Park, where he has no jurisdiction. Some calls are about lost or wandering dogs. (For those of you who are wondering, cats are considered “free will” creatures and aren’t, he said, covered under municipal law, though he tries to be helpful over the phone.) Other calls result in various animal control duties, including getting cows back into their pasture, removing dogs from chicken pens, gathering loose livestock or poultry and responding to neglect or abuse cases.
Officer Peschel said his best stories are about lost dogs that can be identified by tags or microchips. Less than half of the dogs he captures (such as Grumpy) have identification.
One of his big frustrations, he said, is when a dog runs away from him. If it’s wearing a tag, however, he can try to read it through binoculars. If the tag is from a veterinarian, he will call the vet’s office to obtain the owner’s phone number.
His favorite story is about a dog found wandering near Fort Road and M-22 with a Louisiana veterinarian’s tag. He called the New Orleans area vet’s office and got the dog owners’ phone number. When he called the number, an answering machine message conveyed the news that the owner had recently moved to Suttons Bay and it also supplied the new phone number. The dog was returned to its owner just half a mile from where it was found.
A person finding a dog at large with tags should try to locate the owner first, if he or she recognizes the dog. If it’s not wearing tags or the dog isn’t familiar, call the Sheriff’s Department.
“Don’t approach it, unless it comes to you,” he said. “If it’s near its own property, it may be more protective.” Whether or not the dog is wearing tags, if the dog is injured or unfriendly, (telltale signs of the latter may include ears back, tail down or between legs and otherwise acting nervous or afraid), call Animal Control.
“Be wary, because you can’t always tell,” he continued. “A wagging tail doesn’t always mean (it’s) friendly.”
Preferring to call himself a “dog finder” rather than “dog catcher,” Officer Peschel, though he’s been working in Animal Control for six years, still has tense moments of his own when approaching and capturing dogs.
“My most hesitant moment is lifting the dog from the ground to the truck, when the dog is at face level. The dog is the most vulnerable and so am I.”
Once Leelanau Animal Control brings the dog to Cherryland, it is observed carefully by staff to check its condition and behavior. Grumpy’s tail was bleeding and his eye was irritated, but he otherwise seemed to be in good physical shape. Since he wasn’t wearing a collar, he would not be put up for adoption for five days, in order to give the owner an opportunity to call and claim him. Officer Peschel said dogs with collars are given seven days before they are made available to adopt. Shelter attendants evaluate the dog’s temperament according to a classification system in place since 2003. Categories, as listed on Cherryland’s website, include: A – Adoptable to any home, B – No first time dog owners, C – No children (pre-schoolers), D – No other dogs or pets, E – No elderly or disabled persons.
I called on Grumpy’s condition a few days after he arrived at the shelter and discovered he was, indeed, a Boston Terrier, and that he had been named “Star” for adoption purposes. Star had given one of the attendants “kisses.” I was thrilled … and little more hopeful about his adoption chances. What I didn’t know was that Grumpy’s photo, description and classification codes were posted on Cherryland’s website, along with those of the other dogs and cats. (Cats are not assigned temperament codes.)
“Cherryland’s crew does a good job of deciding adoptability,” Officer Peschel said. “Unless a dog is unidentified and aggressive or bit someone, they work very hard.”
In fact, the shelter has a waiting list of people hoping to adopt certain breeds, something else I didn’t know when I was postponing my call to Animal Control.
For those two reasons, I was taken completely by surprise when I called Cherryland two weeks after Star was “admitted” and was told he had been adopted. I was ecstatic, in fact, until my husband came home and asked me if I would spend the same energy on a homeless person sleeping in our outdoor lean-to. Could we be guilty of calling ourselves stewards of the planet when we help man’s best friend, while sometimes ignoring the “man?”
Officer Peschel might be in a better position to (unwittingly) answer these questions. At home, his critter companions include a cat, three dogs and llamas. An EMT and EMT Specialist, he spent 17 years in emergency dispatch before joining Animal Control. Over the phone, he has helped mothers breathe for their babies and guided the novice to perform successful CPR. When the county A.C. position became available, he answered the “call.” Of the less than 10 dogs or so per year he guesses are purposely released in Leelanau County without collars, he said, “It would be like turning out your child and having it fend for itself.”
Then, he added: “To help things that can’t speak for themselves takes it to a different level.”
Thank you, Officer Peschel, and thanks to Cherryland Humane Society, an organization that truly promotes stewardship.
The number of the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Department (ask for Animal Control) is (231) 256-8800. For more on Cherryland Humane Society, visit www.cherrylandhumane.org