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Animal Rescue & Control
Report Animal Abuse or Neglect
Animal Rescue & Control
PHS/SPCA is a private, nonprofit organization under contract with San Mateo County (and its cities) to provide state-mandated animal control services. Highly trained PHS/SPCA Animal Control Officers provide animal rescue, pick-up stray and injured animals, remove dead animals from public right-of-way (except freeways/highways which are maintained by CALTRANS), and enforce laws that protect animals and people. Complaints about barking dogs, patrols of parks (including dog parks), and situations where residents have too many animals or illegal animals, such as ferrets or alligators, are handled by each individual city – and not by PHS/SPCA. Also, PHS/SPCA is not contracted to pick-up dead or live wildlife on private property except when such wildlife has had direct contact with humans and/or domestic animals, such as a bite/attack.
In all cases, PHS/SPCA Animal Rescue & Control Dispatchers and the Animal Control Officers prioritize the calls they receive. For example, a call for a dog loose in traffic on the freeway will be prioritized over a call for a confined dog or a deceased cat, since the dog in traffic is an immediate danger to itself and motorists. Likewise a dog that is acting aggressive toward people will get a response quicker then a dog being aggressive toward other animals, both of which would be handled before a call for an injured deer in someone’s backyard. Regardless, all of those calls will be responded to, however, one call is a higher priority than the other two. San Mateo County contracts us to handle emergency calls within one hour of the time of the call, but our Animal Rescue & Control vehicles are not considered an emergency vehicle by state law and our Officers must follow all traffic laws just like all other motorists. We are contracted, and appropriately staffed, to handle most other non-emergency calls within 24 hours of the time of the call, however, our actual response time is usually around two to four hours.
Animal Rescue & Control van, livestock trailer, and Large Animal Rescue equipment
Download our Large Animal Rescue Flyer which includes information on this service and who to call to report a Large Animal Rescue
Handling “nuisance” wildlife
PHS/SPCA will respond to calls for sick or injured wildlife, but our contract does not include removal of nuisance wildlife (raccoons, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, deer, coyotes, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, etc.) from public or private properties. PHS/SPCA advises residents to seek and remove that which is attracting the nuisance wildlife -- usually inadvertent food or water supplies or shelter – and provides humane tips (see tips of living with local wildlife). Residents can pay an animal trapper or pest control company to remove nuisance wildlife, but this is largely ineffective; new wild animals simply claim the open habitats.
A note about Humane Investigations and Animal Cruelty…
Our Humane Investigation work is funded entirely by donations and is carried out by our two Humane Investigators – and not by Animal Control Officers. As evidenced by media accounts, we take this work seriously and our team is a model for other humane organizations across the country. When we receive an animal cruelty call or complaint, we review it fully and take necessary action, which could range from an “education-only” visit to removing an animal from harm’s way and forwarding a report to our District Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution. Contrary to popular belief PHS/SPCA does not receive funding for our Humane Investigations work from any national animal welfare organization. If you are aware of an animal being abused, please call 650/340-8200. See Reporting Animal Abuse or Neglect and San Mateo County Animal Laws.
News
PHS/SPCA responds to Large Animal Rescue
On Friday, April 19th, 2013 three Officers from the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA responded to Half Moon Bay on a report of a 33 year old horse that had been down overnight. Officers met with the horse owner and his veterinarian and together a rescue plan was formed. Given there was no high “pick point” that could be used to anchor a rope/pulley lifting system, it was decided to us a small tractor with a front end loader attachment to lift the horse. The horse was rigged with a piece of 60’ long 2” blue webbing in what is called the “vertical lift tie”. The webbing is wrapped and tied in such a way that the horse can be lifted for up to 10 minutes. Unlike other lifting equipment, the 2” webbing is extremely portable and can be used to facilitate most rescues where a horse just needs help to get its footing.
It took two lifting attempts, but in short order the horse was on its feet. One of the main advantages of using the “vertical lift tie” as opposed to other lifting equipment is that the webbing can remain on the horse, without encumbering it, while it stabilizes. This way, should the horse go down again, another lifting attempt could be made without re-rigging anything. After the veterinarian cleaned up some minor scrapes around the horse’s left eye and gave him some pain meds, the horse began to walk and was able to eat and drink. It did not appear to have any signs of colic, which can happen when horses are down for an extended period of time.
Thankfully Large Animal Rescue calls are few and far between, but when such calls come in, PHS/SPCA is ready, and equipped, to respond. PHS/SPCA has a fleet of 14 vehicles, and not including the 4x4 pickup truck which is the primary Large Animal Rescue response vehicle, 8 of the remaining 13 vehicles are equipped with basic Large Animal Rescue equipment, this is in addition to the Large Animal Rescue equipment cache stored at the shelter that can be loaded into any of the vehicles. Also, half of the officers have attended Large Animal Rescue training classes, and about half of those have attended Advanced Large Animal Rescue training classes. The Captain of the Animal Rescue & Control department is an instructor for the Large Animal Rescue training classes and PHS/SPCA maintains a full sized fiberglass horse for in house Large Animal Rescue training.
PHS/SPCA Responds to the rescue of a dog stuck in a drain pipe
On Tuesday March 19th, 2013 just before 1 pm, we responded to a somewhat unusual report of a dog stuck in a drain pipe at the Millbrae Montessori School at 797 Santa Margarita in Millbrae. The students and faculty at the school had noticed the dog and not knowing how it got in, or if it could get out, called us and the Millbrae Fire Department. Our Animal Control Officer arrived on scene the same time the Millbrae Fire Department did and they located an older pit bull type dog under a drain pipe grate behind the school. The dog was able to crawl through the drain pipes and was only able to be seen when it was directly under grates that covered the drain pipe junctions. The grates were not easily removed which prevented the immediate rescue of the dog, which soon disappeared into one of the drain pipes again.
The Millbrae Firefighters called for additional help from Central County Fire and they were able to use the camera from their Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) truck to see the dog, which was now just lying in the pipe barely moving. Given nearly everyone on scene thought the dog was now stuck, the Firefighters started digging a hole so they could cut through the concrete pipe. At the same time, on a hunch, our Animal Control Officer called into our Dispatch Center at our Coyote Point Location where they located a lost dog report from two days ago for the pit bull type dog, which turned out to be an 8 year old dog named “Mixer”. The owners were called and they soon arrived on scene.
After being notified by the Fire Department, the Millbrae Public Works Department arrived on scene and they used their remote controlled robot camera to measure the distance to the dog, which was about 10’ away from where the hole was being dug. This type of rescue has happened before, and often dogs, and other animals, will crawl backwards when faced with the unknown, such as a remote controlled robot camera. That is exactly what happened in this case. As the camera was moved forward, the dog crawled backwards. By this time the grates covering the pipe junctions had been removed and one of the owners positioned himself so he could reach down and grab the dog once it backed out to the pipe junction.
“Mixer” soon backed out all the way to the pipe junction where he was lifted out by his owner, bringing an end to his two day ordeal. “Mixer” had a few minor scrapes, but was otherwise unharmed and didn’t seem to be suffering from dehydration. His grateful owners thanked everyone who responded and took “Mixer” home. The area was searched by the responders to this call, however, they could not find out how the dog ended up getting access to the drain pipes in the first place.
PHS/SPCA attends memorial service
On December 8th, 2012 several officers from the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA attended the memorial service for Animal Control Officer Roy Marcum. Officer Marcum was killed in the line of duty on November 28th when he responded to a residence to remove animals that had been left behind after the tenant was evicted the day before. The tenant had somehow gained access to the residence and when Officer Marcum approached the front door, the tenant fired a shotgun through it, striking and killing Officer Marcum. Like most Animal Control Officers in the State of California Officer Marcum was unarmed. The incident happened in Galt (located between Sacramento and Stockton) which contracts for its animal control services from Sacramento County Animal Care and Regulation.
The two photos seen above were taken by PHS/SPCA Humane Investigator Mary Ellen Wood with the top photo showing two of our vehicles (at left) along with many others at the cemetery and the bottom photo showing some of the officers gathered around the gravesite. There were 53 Animal Control vehicles from all around the state of California that did a procession between the church and the cemetery following the hearse and other vehicles containing the family members. Also in attendance were around 100 uniformed Officers from various departments, in addition to all the family, friends, and co-workers of Officer Marcum. It was truly a heart wrenching day for all in attendance.
PHS/SPCA responds to trapped deer
On Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 12:15 p.m. two of our Officers responded to a report of a fawn trapped in an 8' deep concrete pit in the hills of Belmont. Due to the excellent directions provided by the reporting party, our Officers quickly located the 8’ deep pit with the fawn in it. Our Officers did not notice any injuries on the fawn, which was in fact very active. Mother deer will often bed down their fawns while they go out and forage for food, however, this fawn was older and may have fallen into the 8’ deep pit while exploring the area on its own.
Thankfully someone had placed a small step ladder nearby (maybe this sort of thing has happened before?) so one of our Officers was able to enter the 8’ deep pit with a blanket. The fawn was quickly caught in the blanket, and once it was caught, calmed down immediately. The fawn was passed up to the Officer on top of the pit, was taken a short distance away, and released. Due to their being an 8’ deep concrete pit in the middle of nowhere, our Officers notified the city of Belmont about the possible hazard once they returned to the shelter.
PHS/SPCA Participates in Disaster Preparedness Day 2012
This year’s Disaster Preparedness Day had nothing to do with the Mayan Calendar “ending” in 2012, instead its an event put on by the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services (OES) to help citizens prepare for disasters such as fires, earthquakes, and other natural and man made disasters.
PHS/SPCA takes delivery of two Ford/CTEC Trucks
The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA recently took delivery of two 2011 Ford F-250 trucks with custom Animal Control bodies built by CTEC, the California Truck Equipment Company. In order to design a vehicle that went beyond the dog catcher truck of old, four of the officers formed a vehicle committee to discuss the various options in Animal Control vehicles and to see if any manufacturers would be willing to work with us to try out some new ideas, mainly the creation of a never before seen item in Animal Control vehicles, dog stairs, which you can see in use in the photos below. The delivery of these trucks also marks the first time in a long time where the vehicle graphics on our fleet of ten Animal Rescue & Control vehicles have been the same.
Helping animals and their owners in San Bruno
On Thursday, September 9th, 2010, at 6:30 p.m., approximately 15 minutes after the initial explosion, the first Animal Rescue & Control unit arrived on the scene of the San Bruno gas pipeline explosion and fire. A short time later, two other units arrived on scene, however, due to the intense fire, there was nothing the Officers could do. In fact, in the first 12 hours of the incident only two dogs were picked up from the scene.
The top photo by Capt. Jeff Christner taken 20 minutes after the explosion shows the intense fire first responders faced. The bottom photo by Humane Officer Bill Brissenden taken the next day shows one of our Animal Rescue & Control vehicles near one of the State’s fire engines in the midst of the devastation following the explosion and fire.
Officers worked day and night at the scene of the disaster until Monday afternoon when residents were finally allowed to return to their homes. During the same time, other Officers and PHS/SPCA volunteers manned the PHS/SPCA table at the local assistance center to collect information from worried pet owners about their lost or missing animals. To coordinate our response, other Officers set up a Department Operations Center at PHS/SPCA. Special thanks to San Francisco Animal Care & Control who responded to our mutual aid request by sending two of their units to assist with the transportation of animals from the scene of the disaster to PHS/SPCA on Friday, which turned out to be the busiest day for our department during this disaster.
Over the course of the disaster nearly 40 animals were sheltered in place at their homes at the request of their owners and were checked on by our Officers twice a day, to provide food and water for them during the time residents were not allowed into the area. An additional 28 animals were removed from their residences and brought to PHS/SPCA at the request of their owners. Of those 28 animals, 18 were immediately returned to their owners, many of whom were waiting at PHS/SPCA for our Animal Rescue & Control vehicles to arrive with their pets on board. Our Officers got to witness and be part of many happy reunions between animals and their owners, both at the shelter, and on scene, where our Officers often removed animals from residences and returned them to their owners waiting on the other side of the fire/police line.
There were no reports of any injured animals during the time our Officers were on scene, and the only report of animals that were known to have perished in the fire were some fish kept in an outside pond. Sadly, there were many animals who were reported as missing, and their fate, even several weeks after the disaster, was still uncertain.
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