By Frank Mustac, Contributor
A health officer from Montgomery Township recently updated Pennington officials on the animal control services provided to the borough.
Montgomery has been furnishing animal control, as well as health department services, to Pennington since 2011. The borough previously contracted with Hopewell Township for both services.
Hopewell Borough, as well as Rocky Hill in Somerset County also contract with Montgomery for municipal health services and animal control.
“All together, we have about 2,000 calls for service a year for animal control. About 150 of those calls are from Pennington Borough residents,” Montgomery Township Health Officer Stephanie Carey said at a recent Borough Council meeting.
In the last 12 months, she said, her department has responded to six dogs at large, at least one litter of kittens, plus a number of stray cats.
“There was one animal neglect investigation, and three nuisance raccoons where we helped residents get the raccoons out of their house,” Ms. Carey said.
Animal control, she said, responds to countless wildlife-related information calls. In recent weeks, she said her department has received calls from residents wanting to find out more about coyotes, bears and foxes.
“Keeping the public educated is important,” she said.
Whenever there is staff available during regular business hours, Ms. Carey also said that her staff will work to help anyone in their coverage areas with any animal-related issues.
“Most recently, (we were tasked with) removing a squirrel from a store that was causing some damage,” she said. “We were able to help business and help the squirrel.”
Bites of all kinds, including from man’s best friend, are constantly monitored by the Montgomery Health Department, she said.
In most cases, the issue comes again to information and education.
“Anytime there is a dog bite, we monitor to make sure that the dog is not overly aggressive and that the dog has been adequately vaccinated against rabies to protect the public,” she said. “There is rabies prevention education — education programs for children on preventing dog bites, and wildlife awareness and emergency preparedness of all kinds, including pet emergency preparedness.”
Over the last few months, a special focus has been placed on mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illnesses, thanks largely in part to the increased media coverage of the Zika and West Nile viruses.
“We offer a full range of services,” Ms. Carey said. “We have quick response times and we track our quality on a continuous basis to make sure we’re providing the value service that the borough desires.”
Pennington Mayor Pershichilli said he and Borough Administrator Eileen Heinzel had recently met with Ms. Carey to discuss health department and animal control services, with the anticipation of renewing the borough’s contract with Montgomery.
“We are extremely happy with the service we are getting from Montgomery,” the mayor said. “We get no complaints from our residents about the service, and by the way, we are getting it at a very favorable rate in comparison to some other organizations.”
