Animal Control Officer

Name: Del Holbrook Employer: Seal Beach Police Department Thumbs up: "I love animals and enjoy working with the community. The job has evolved from 'dogcatcher,' which was mostly enforcement, to include visiting schools to teach about animals." Thumbs down: "People enter this field because they're animal lovers, and often we see some heartbreaking situations. If you want to last, you have to become emotionally detached. There is also some frustration.

A Flagstaff, Ariz. police officer accused of bludgeoning, stomping and strangling an injured dog in an attempt to put the dog down after a traffic mishap has resigned from the force, the department announced Monday. Cpl. John Tewes delivered his letter of resignation on Friday in a letter addressed to Police Chief Kevin Treadway. Prosecutors have said they did not have sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges in the incident, but the department launched an internal affairs investigation into Tewes' actions.

A city animal control officer received severe injuries to her left arm Tuesday when she was attacked by a Doberman pinscher she was trying to catch in the Porter Ranch area of Northridge, authorities said. Officer Annetta Reeff needed 27 stitches between her wrist and elbow after the 12:45 p.m. attack near Brasilia Drive and Baird Avenue, Lt. Linda Gordon of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation said.

In a case that has shocked Arizona animal activists, prosecutors have decided not to charge a Flagstaff police officer who in a gruesome incident this summer used his baton, boot and a cable to kill an injured dog after a fellow officer accidentally hit the animal with his car. In August, Cpl. John Tewes was called after another officer hit a loose dog with his car about 2:30 a.m. Tewes and the other officer decided the dog needed to be euthanized, but...

When an unidentified critter fell through a Laguna Beach resident's skylight, animal control officer Joy Lingenfelter showed up prepared. "The resident thought it was an injured raccoon," Lingenfelter said. "I had gloves and nets and poles and a cage." The animal, hiding behind a desk, growled but didn't sound like a raccoon to Lingenfelter's practiced ear. She called out, "Here kitty, kitty."

So far, Joy Lingenfelter had counseled a woman with a stray dog, fielded a call about a deer with two broken legs, scooped a dead dove off Laguna Canyon Road and accepted a snake in a shoe box. And it was only 7 a.m. "Mondays," Lingenfelter said, shaking her head. "Every week." One of two animal control officers in this city, Lingenfelter never knows what surprises await her when she arrives at the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter to begin her 10-hour shift.

For 22 years, Lila Brooks has helped guide Southern California cities and counties through the emotionally charged debate over how to make devices that trap and control wildlife more humane. As director of the Hollywood-based California Wildlife Defenders, she has been the impetus for several laws governing the traps, including a ban on their use in unincorporated Los Angeles County.

When Quincy the pot-bellied pig figured out how to vault over a low back-yard wall to reach the tasty dandelion-filled hillside below, it was the start of trouble for his owner. In the last six months, Bob Anderson has been cited three times by county animal control officers for letting the precocious porker roam on property other than his own, a violation of the county's "staking and grazing" ordinance.

Lt. Brian Frick goes out in the morning not knowing whether he's going to be confronted by an ex-con with a pit bull or a stray Chihuahua. The 23-year veteran Orange County animal control officer carries a shotgun and tranquilizer rifle in his truck, which sets him apart from hundreds of other animal care officers in Southern California. In Orange County's Animal Care Services department, ranking officers, sergeants and above, may carry weapons.

One of the 10 women suing the Police Department, former Chief Arb Campbell and former Capt. Anthony Villa quit her job this week, saying she cannot go back to work at the department because the environment there is too hostile. Michelle LeFay, an animal control officer who filed a workers' compensation claim Oct. 22 and collected payments for disability, vacation and sick days until May 6, said in a letter to City Manager Kevin J.

Nobody doubts that Bonnie Sheehan loves dogs. For the last 15 years, she has dedicated her life to finding homes for those that might otherwise be euthanized at local animal shelters. But the economic downturn made her work more difficult, according to volunteers from her nonprofit operation, Hearts for Hounds. As Sheehan started taking in dogs faster than she could give them away, the number of animals grew at the Long Beach facility she used, often far beyond the 75 allowed by the city.

Animal control officers took custody of two dozen animals, including four emaciated horses, and found three pigs that they believe starved to death at a home in Riverside County. Animal Services Department spokesman John Welsh said officers responded to complaints about the Woodcrest-area home of Wilson Rojas and found eight horses, 10 live pigs and three dead ones, three dogs, a goat, a chicken and a red-beaked parrot. The officers had intended to seize the 24 live animals, but Rojas willingly signed over ownership.

Long Beach is going to the dogs. And as they knock on doors around there and in nearby Cerritos, Seal Beach and Signal Hill in an usual hunt for canine scofflaws, about the only excuse authorities haven't heard yet is that Fido ate the license notice. Animal control workers are going house-to-house in search of unlicensed dogs in what is turning into an unusual census of the area's dog population.

A look at upcoming events: Today Teacher awards: The Los Angeles County Office of Education will announce its teacher of the year awards. Tuesday Power plant protest: Residents from several southeast cities plan to gather at Rosewood Park in Commerce for a candlelight vigil to protest a proposed Vernon power plant. Wednesday Public art: Long Beach launches ArtPEACE, an eight-month campaign to promote cultural exchanges and peace through the visual arts.

A 60-pound pit bull named Rocky mauled an animal control officer in Lakewood, leaving the officer with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said Wednesday. The 28-year-old officer, who was not identified, suffered flesh wounds to his arms and legs and a broken knuckle after the dog lunged at him during a routine house call, said Capt. Aaron Reyes, who heads operations for the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority in southeast Los Angeles County.

An 81-year-old Wilmington woman was found Monday afternoon by Los Angeles Department of Animal Services officers in her home with more than 100 rats and 35 other animals she kept as pets. Wanda Langstom was taken to a hospital to be treated for animal bites. Her arms were covered with open wounds that were probably caused by her animals, said Annette Ramirez, an animal control officer. Animal control officers also seized the animals, which included about 120 rats, most in cages but some running loose, 25 rabbits, a dog, six parakeets, a quail and a cockatiel.

A 60-pound pit bull named Rocky mauled an animal control officer in Lakewood, leaving the officer with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said Wednesday. The 28-year-old officer, who was not identified, suffered flesh wounds to his arms and legs and a broken knuckle after the dog lunged at him during a routine house call, said Capt. Aaron Reyes, who heads operations for the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority in southeast Los Angeles County.

An animal control officer who admitted he drowned more than 100 cats over the past two years to cut costs has resigned under pressure. "With government agencies trying to cut costs, cremating them is too expensive, since the charge is by the pound," said Ralph Holmes, Granville's animal control officer for nine years. He resigned Thursday. When asked if village officials knew what he was doing, Holmes said, "I was hired to do a job and they didn't ask any questions."

Last month, Fontana was jolted by a freak snowstorm. This month, a trespassing marsupial. The 3-foot-tall wallaby startled wide-eyed neighbors in a quiet Fontana neighborhood Tuesday morning as it bounded down the street and into a backyard through an open gate. Fontana police and animal control officers from San Bernardino were summoned, and "Walter the Wallaby," as one police officer nicknamed him, was whisked away.

The bullhorn at maximum volume always heralds their arrival, these mini-terrorists who bully my neighborhood under the wide cloak of the 1st Amendment and the thin pretense of defending animals. Their numbers range from about 10 to 20-something, the members often festively dressed in a hip-gypsy style for a weekend or after-dark outing.