News

Where have all the dogcatchers gone?

Towns scramble for animal control officer

By Katie Farrell
Staff writer
Published: July 3, 2009

NEWBURYPORT — Driving home from an afternoon at Moseley Woods with her three dogs Wednesday as a thunderstorm broke out, Kim Kudym saw the dog suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The dog was running down Merrimac Street, on the center line of the busy street, as cars pulled over and tried to avoid it. Kudym put on her hazard lights and began following the dog as he ran toward town.

As she caught up with him, the dog jumped into Kudym's car. She searched for a license on his collar, and the dog growled slightly at her.

She dialed the city's animal control number on her cell phone and found it was no longer in use. She hit 911 on her cell phone, connecting with the Newburyport police.

She was told the city no longer had an animal control officer. Beyond that, the person on the other line couldn't provide any more information.

"He didn't know what to tell me," she said yesterday.

Since it was after 4 p.m., City Hall was closed. She managed to finally grab the dog's collar, getting a name and phone number, and dialed the dog's owners and left a message.

She tried a friend, who told her of the impending regional health agreement among Newburyport, Amesbury and Salisbury, in which Salisbury's animal control officer will provide services to all three towns. She called Harold Congdon. Congdon said he has no jurisdiction in Newburyport yet, as the agreement is not finalized, and told Kudym she could bring the dog to him, but he couldn't come get it.

As she was getting ready to leave to do so, the dog's owners called back, having arrived home to find the dog missing and her voice mail message.

Kudym called the events "frustrating."

"I was extremely disappointed in the lack of response from the Newburyport police on this issue," she wrote in a follow-up e-mail. "There was no offer of any assistance other than the suggestion that I call the health department in the morning. There was no back-up plan given the current absence of an animal control officer in the city either."

Mayor John Moak called Kudym's experience "a breakdown in services" and said the health department met yesterday morning for training.

"What happened yesterday was not acceptable," he said. "It is being corrected; it is being worked on."

"This was a breakdown in service, and those things happen but they shouldn't," Moak said. "Our job is to make sure they don't happen."

While the health agreement has been tabled by the Newburyport City Council until their July 13 meeting, and will not be voted on by the Amesbury Municipal Council until July 14, Moak said the city is in "a little bit of limbo" as they try "to still work through it all."

Under the new arrangement, a Newburyport resident with an animal control issue should call the Newburyport health department during their regular office hours, Moak said. When City Hall is closed, they should call the police department who will then get in touch with an on-call responder. An emergency situation will be addressed immediately, while non-emergencies, such as a barking dog complaint, will be logged and responded to the next working day, he said.

Congdon will provide the services during the day, while Newburyport will provide services during the evenings and weekends. Newburyport is also keeping the current patrols they have been doing, Moak said.

If the Newburyport and Amesbury councils do not vote to accept the regional agreement, those communities will not take part in the regional health services and will need to provide those services on their own again.

Amesbury Mayor Thatcher Kezer said the town will have animal control personnel on duty 24/7 under the agreement, if passed.

"We'll actually have more coverage at half the cost," Kezer said.

Amesbury's animal control officer Eileen Cashman was laid off under the new agreement. Her last day was June 26.