Even on a good day, the animal welfare profession is volatile. I’ve seen videos of animal control officers having a dog sicced on them as they approached the front steps. In another incident, an officer spoke with the owner, on his front porch, concerning an issue with his dog and he calmly walked back into his house and blew his brains out. Those were issues from years ago. People today have much shorter fuses.
Portland Oregon is a good example that people have been raging for such a long time that they don’t know how to stop. The greatest worry that we have as animal control officers is looking like a police officer. Police officer are being shot just for doing their jobs.
I’ve always said, “People are looking for an opportunity to express their rage.” That is truer than ever before. It has become increasingly more important for our employees who work with the public to avoid alterations. Today, minor altercations seem to lead to violent attacks. Be aware of the tools you have available to you to protect yourself. If you don’t carry pepper spray, now is a good time to start. You are likely to get into less trouble by using pepper spray than using your catchpole to protect yourself from another person.
If you don’t feel right about a situation, always keep in mind that you can walk away.