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Animal Rescue & Control
Animal Rescue & Control
PHS/SPCA is a private, nonprofit under contract with San Mateo County (and its cities) to provide state-mandated services. Highly trained PHS/SPCA 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. Barking dog complaints are handled by individual cities’ police departments – not PHS/SPCA. Also, PHS/SPCA is contracted to pick-up dead or live wildlife on private property only when such wildlife has had direct contact with humans and/or domestic animals which involved a bite or attack. In all cases, PHS/SPCA officers prioritize calls. For example, a call for a dog stuck in traffic will be prioritized over a call for a stray, confined dog or a deceased cat, since the dog in traffic is still directly in harm’s way.
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 responds to calls for sick or injured wildlife, but our contract does not include removal of nuisance wildlife (raccoons, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, deer, etc.) from 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 Humane Investigators -- not by Animal Control Officers or Humane 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. 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 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.
PHS/SPCA responds to Large Animal Rescue
On Sunday, April 3rd, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. three of our Humane Officers assisted the Coastside Fire Protection District and the La Honda Fire Brigade with a Large Animal Rescue call on Purisima Creek Road, just south of Half Moon Bay city limits. A 20 year old horse was stuck on top of a bridge after his hindquarters fell through the weakened beams that made up the deck of the bridge. The horse’s hooves were also tangled up in the ironwork that made up the bridge’s frame. When responders first arrived on scene the horse was lying on his side, but he was soon able to reposition himself to a more upright position. After a quick meeting of all the rescuers with the Incident Commander, it was determined that it would be best to await the arrival of the veterinarian before trying to move the horse given the precarious nature of the bridge. The veterinarian arrived a short time later, gave the horse a mild sedative, and the horse was rigged with rescue straps so it could be lifted out. Thankfully a neighbor owned a large crane and he was able to back the crane into position where the horse could be lifted out toward the rear first to untangle his hooves from the ironwork, before being pulled forward. As part of the Incident Command system, rescuers had another quick meeting to get everyone on the same page before the actual rescue commenced. The lifting operation progressed smoothly and the horse was soon free, however, the crane had to be moved before the horse could walk off the bridge. While the horse was moving around on the bridge several of the other beams were visibly bending under the weight of the horse making for some tense moments for all! After the crane was moved the horse was able to walk off the bridge and over to an area where he could be treated by the veterinarian. Thankfully the horse only suffered some minor cuts and scrapes from the ordeal.
The four photos above were taken by our officers. The top photo shows the horse lying on his side when responders first arrived on scene, with the second photo showing the horse’s hooves tangled up in the ironwork of the bridge’s frame. The third photo shows some of the rigging on the horse. The rescue strap on the hindquarters was lifted by the crane while the rescue strap around the front was used to help guide the horse forward during the lifting. Everyone was too busy to take photos during the actual lifting operation, so the bottom photo shows the horse being led to the veterinarian by one of the La Honda Firefighters. You can also see the crane used to lift the horse in the background of the bottom photo. After a quick debriefing with the Incident Commander all fire and Animal Rescue & Control units were released from the scene at 3:45 p.m.
PHS/SPCA responds to trapped deer
Deer often get themselves into a variety of dangerous situations, especially when they try to go through or over fences. Recently a deer found itself trapped by fences in the patio of an apartment building. The patio area of the building was built into a hillside where the surrounding terrain was much higher then the fences. The deer jumped over the fence, into the patio, and was trapped. A decision was made to tranquilize the deer and to relocate it to a nearby open space.
The deer was successfully struck with a tranquilizer dart fired from a blowgun by one of our Humane Officers. Unlike what is shown on television, tranquilizer drugs do not take effect immediately. This is the main reason that injured deer that are still mobile and not contained, can not be tranquilized. Once the dart is fired and successfully deploys the deer must be able to be followed until the drugs take effect otherwise the deer could end up in an even more dangerous situation.
In the picture to the left you can see the tranquilizer dart (next to white arrow) still sticking in the deer. The picture on the right shows the deer loaded onto a stretcher before being loaded into one of our vehicles for transport to an open space area. Note that some of the fence boards had to be removed to get the deer out of the patio. Special thanks to local resident Shevy Rebollar who captured these photos of our Officers in action!
The deer was relocated and while it was recovering from the drugs one of our Officers waited nearby to make sure the deer recovered successfully. Deer can sometimes die from high stress situations, including being tranquilized. Thankfully this deer was up on its own in a few hours and quickly took off into the open space area.
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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