It’s Tooth and Claw, Policing This Beat

As an animal control officer for the County of Los Angeles, Jerry White gets stomped, bitten, kicked, chased and clawed. He pulls dead skunks off the freeways and live snakes from toilet bowls. Once he chased a monkey up a tree with a blowgun. Another time he was jumped from behind by a small African lion.

“People say I must really hate animals to do this kind of thing,” White said. “It tees me off when they say that . . . . Animals are a joy.”

White, 39, is one of three animal control officers stationed at the county’s Animal Care and Shelter Facility in Castaic. Officially classed as a “limited peace officer” by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, he serves as a kind of animal policeman on county lands stretching south from Gorman through the city of San Fernando. Although he cannot make arrests, he is authorized to issue citations for violations of state and county animal laws. If he has reason to believe there is something amiss, he also is allowed to enter private lands.

“We do a lot of nosing around,” said White, who has worked for the county since 1974 and at Castaic since 1979. “I’d say I probably drive this truck 150 miles a day.”

Mostly Dogs and Cats

The six-acre Castaic Animal Care and Shelter facility is the smallest and most zoo-like of the county’s six animal shelters. Impounded dogs and cats make up most of the shelter’s population, as they do at all of the county’s animal shelters. About half these animals are turned in by their owners; after 30 days most are either auctioned off or destroyed.

But the Castaic district is predominantly rural, which brings the shelter more than its share of unusual situations. Horse ranches are commonplace here, as are centers that train animals for everything from film appearances to sniffing out drugs at airports. Wild animals such as snakes and coyotes are regular sights in the hills. There are cattle ranchers and sheepherders. There are also a number of legally and illegally imported exotic animals, ranging from cockatoos to alligators.

“It’s not like working in Baldwin Park,” said White, referring to the site of the county’s largest shelter. “Out here in the boonies, you learn not to be surprised.”

Handles 50 Calls Weekly

In a typical week on the job, White says, he investigates as many as 50 calls from residents of the district, ranging from complaints of barking dogs to serious cases of animal abuse. Most of the tips come from neighbors; others are provided by meter-readers or observant postal workers.

And, if most of the calls are easily dealt with, a few are not so simple. For example:

Last summer, White said a woman in Seco Canyon called to report a monkey in her yard. The monkey, which had apparently escaped from a neighbor’s house, was sitting in a tree when White arrived. Armed with a blow-gun loaded with a tranquilizer dart--”We only use them as a last resort”--White climbed out on a branch in time to see the monkey run away. It was last seen walking down a neighboring street, eating an apple.

Last fall, a two-truck accident loosed 90 head of cattle on Interstate 5. White said he helped herd the cattle onto a surface street while an anxious brood of motorists gathered up the road. A few months before, a similar accident left an equally large herd of sheep on roughly the same stretch of the freeway. White said both herds were eventually restored to their owners.

Also last summer, 2,000 chickens escaped from a livestock truck after a late-night accident near Valencia. The entire staff of the shelter joined in chasing the elusive birds, eventually recapturing most of them. When the company transporting the chickens refused to pick them up, the chickens were sold for 50 cents apiece.

Three years ago, two juveniles were arrested by police after shelter investigators found the corpses of several burned cats. White said the juveniles confessed to setting the cats on fire after dousing them with lighter fluid. Convicted of animal abuse, both were ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment.

One of the strangest sightings occurred several years ago, when another of the shelter’s investigators found a seven-foot shark near a Bob’s Big Boy restaurant in Saugus. The shark, apparently abandoned by a fisherman, was long dead and extremely smelly. It was quickly removed and destroyed.

And every year, as summer approaches, the center gets a wave of snake calls. In recent years, White said, he has removed “more snakes than I can remember” from residences, stores and a few area schoolyards.

“Snakes will go anywhere they can fit their head,” he said, noting that he once removed a water snake from a toilet.

Specializing in Horses

When he isn’t dealing with dogs and cats or the occasional “off-the-wall cases,” White said, he tends to specialize in horses. The owner of five of his own, he is well-known to most horse owners in the district, and notorious to a few.

“Sometimes they don’t like it when they see you coming,” he said. “Horse people are real sensitive when you tell them they’re doing something wrong.”

One day last week, for instance, White was sent to investigate a report of malnourished horses on a ranch off Sand Canyon Road, near the northern edge of the Santa Clarita Valley. Driving through the gate, he was immediately stopped by two sweaty, overweight men who warned him that their dog “didn’t like uniforms.” When White explained the nature of his call, one of the men insisted on knowing the name of White’s “stoolie.”

“I can’t tell you that without a court order,” said White, after asking that the dog be locked in a garage.

“Well, look all you want,” said the larger of the men. “I’m going inside to call my lawyer.”

Animals Nicer Than People

White got out and checked the horses on the ranch, noting that one was at least 250 pounds underweight. Told that the horse had trouble digesting, he instructed the owners to make an appointment with a local veterinarian.

“Nine times out of 10, you like the animals better than the people,” he joked, after driving away. “I’ve been marched off property with shotguns and attacked by irate old ladies. I am currently being sued for punching a juvenile who pointed a shotgun at my head . . . . When I get in that kind of situation, I usually back out and call the police for assistance.”

In his time, White said, he also has been kicked by diseased horses, bitten by rescued dogs and floored from behind by a playful lion cub. “I never saw it coming,” he said of the lion incident. “For a second, I was sure it was the end.”

But, in 10 years on the job, White said, he has only been seriously injured once--when a loyal-looking St. Bernard bit one of his legs to the bone.

“That was years ago in a different district,” he said. “To this day, the thought of a St. Bernard raises the hairs on my neck.”