THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407070193
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
One day she's trapping snakes. The next, she's chasing stray dogs. Another day she's returning opossums to the wild.
It all comes with the turf for a Virginia Beach animal control officer.
``As time goes on, the general public expects more from us, and they expect better service,'' said Mary E. Albert, a 7-year animal control officer and the city's only one to be recognized by the Police Department for almost being killed in the line of duty.
Albert, a Pennsylvania native, said she has been caring for animals since age 7, when she began raising raccoons, birds and bunnies. Her father wanted her to be a veterinarian, she said, which led her to working in kennels before she was even out of elementary school.
``Where there was an animal, I was,'' said Albert, a Creeds resident. ``I just love animals.''
Albert studied administrative criminal justice for a year and a half at Penn State University in preparation for a law enforcement career, but she put those plans on hold to get married. Now divorced, she has four children and plans later this summer to marry Doug Humphrey, a fellow city animal control officer.
Albert is happy now with her work and her life, she said, especially in light of a terrifying assignment several years ago that nearly killed her.
Albert responded to a complaint at 6 p.m. Feb. 1, 1989, about two large Rottweilers running loose through the Salem Woods neighborhood. A male and a female, the dogs didn't take long to find. Albert leashed the female, but the male ran after a cat. Having only one leash, Albert unleashed the female, which seemed calm, and proceeded to capture and leash the male.
They were walking back to the truck when, without warning, the 90-pound dog turned on Albert, jumped up and bit her squarely and forcefully, in the chin and mouth. Had the cuts been inches lower, Albert's jugular vein might have been slashed. Albert tried using her free arm to protect her face, but the dog bit it, severing a tendon and preventing her from reaching her pistol.
Despite the injuries, Albert was able to keep the dog from escaping her grasp as she sought protection inside her truck and radioed for assistance.
``I could taste the blood, and it was dripping down,'' said Albert. ``I was scared when he went for my face.''
Within minutes, she said, five police cars were on the scene, followed by three animal control officers. She was taken to the hospital where she received at least 200 stitches, both on the inside and the outside of her mouth, jaw and cheek. She also was treated for several deep puncture wounds in her arm.
Since then Albert has undergone several plastic surgery operations that have all but erased any physical scars. Last winter, she became the first animal control officer to be honored by the Virginia Beach Police Department when it presented her a Blue Star Award during its annual awards ceremony.
Before that incident, Albert had never been attacked by an animal, nor has she been attacked since. She has, however, been chased by dogs, she said.
Animal control officers are, in general, safe, Albert said, because they have the training and equipment necessary to perform their work. What concerns her, she said, is the growing number of people, and pets, moving into the city and the increased workload for officers.
Thirty-two full-time employees, including about 10 male and 10 female animal control officers, work for the bureau, which has an annual budget of more than $1 million and is located at 2665 Leroy Drive near Princess Anne Middle School. At least four more officers are needed, Albert said, due to the increasing number of complaints and because traffic congestion makes it harder for them to reach serious situations in a timely manner.
Albert estimates that Virginia Beach is home to at least 100,000 dogs. Of those, 20,162 were licensed in 1992, 20,651 in 1993, and 19,414 so far in 1994. Cats were not required to be licensed in the city until this year, and so far 4,567 felines have been registered since October.
The Bureau of Animal Control received 30,651 complaints in 1993, according to Kathy Capps, the bureau's administrative secretary. And they logged 4,668 calls about dead animals in the road.
The complaints include everything from stray or barking dogs to animal bites.
Animals actually picked up in 1993 totaled 14,805, of which, 5,617 were dogs, 3,703 were cats, 1,392 were raccoons and a combination of 4,093 snakes, rabbits, opossums, squirrels, muskrats and birds.
Of all the calls Albert receives, the most painful, she said, involve informing people that one of their pets has been killed.
And emotions always run high when dealing with someone's pet.
``There is danger, in a way,'' said Albert. ``It's almost like you're messing around with one of their children.'' MEMO: Call 427-5000 or 427-4158 to reach the Virginia Beach Bureau of Animal
Control.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GREG GOLDFARB
Mary Albert and her fellow Virginia Beach animal control officers
picked up a combination of 4,093 opossums (pictured), snakes,
rabbits, squirrels, muskrats and birds in 1993.
by CNB