July 10, 2025 • 29 mins
Senior Animal Services Officer Karla Butler takes us behind the scenes of animal control in Allen, sharing her remarkable journey from California zookeeper to Texas animal services professional. Her stories range from heart-warming to hilarious—from Stacy, the elusive dog who led officers on a three-week chase across the city before becoming a shelter favorite, to the adventures of trying to recapture Nacho after he slipped his leash during a photo opportunity.
Butler offers fascinating insights into shelter operations, explaining how the six-person team handles everything from animal care and adoptions to emergency response and cruelty investigations. The shelter houses not just cats and dogs but occasionally ferrets, birds, bearded dragons, and even chickens—all available for adoption regardless of where the adopter lives. Her description of answering thousands of phone calls annually while managing daily animal care paints a picture of dedicated professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes.
What makes Butler's perspective truly unique is her extensive zookeeping background. Her stories about caring for giraffes, joining a zoo's emergency weapons team, and chasing runaway tortoises provide entertaining context for her current role. This diverse experience prepared her perfectly for Allen's animal control challenges, from netting vultures trapped at Topgolf to wrangling snakes from car engines.
The conversation highlights recent shelter improvements like new turf installation in the dog yards and emphasizes the importance of pet vaccination, microchipping, and proper registration. Butler also discusses resources available for pet owners facing hardship, underscoring the shelter's commitment to keeping pets with their families whenever possible. Want to help? Visit allenpolice.org to learn about volunteer opportunities, fostering through Bose Buddies, and how to support the shelter's mission of finding forever homes for animals in need.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:02):
Welcome back to another episode of Allen
Police.
Behind the Badge, we're yourhosts, officer Sam Rippamonti
and Alexus Birmingham.
Community Outreach Coordina (00:08):
And today our guest is Senior
Animal Services Officer KarlaButler.
Thank you for joining us today.
You're welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, hey.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:16):
Karla.
So we're going to talk aboutwhat you do for the Allen Animal
Shelter, but, off the top ofyour head, think of any, any fun
stories that you've gone to orcalls that you've had here in
the city of Allen or in yourcareer and this profession.
Animal Services Officer Karl (00:33):
Oh , so many of them.
Um, we we've had a lot oflong-term residents.
One of our longest was um, adog that we chased around the
city for three or four weeks,from Highway 75 all the way to
Exchange over by the tenniscourts at the high school, which
(00:55):
is where she was finally caught.
So that was quite a funadventure.
We spent a lot of man hourschasing her, finally caught her
and she had some medical issueswhile at the shelter.
And we got her through all ofthat and eventually she was
adopted by a wonderful family,but it took her just over a year
.
And she was the last dog thatcleared the shelter that year
(01:17):
before she was adopted what washer name?
Stacy.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:21):
And y'all had one just recently,
that was it Nacho.
Oh and Nacho, yeah, we had himfor he beat her.
Animal Services Officer Ka (01:29):
Yeah , he beat her record.
He was there for um a year andseveral months before we got him
adopted.
Community Outreach Coordinato (01:37):
I remember when you let him slip
the leash, that one day.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:40):
Side story about Nacho was we were,
we were, uh, we were trying tohelp out you out.
We wanted to find Nacho a home,so were you there that day?
Animal Services Officer Karla (01:48):
I wasn't there, but I heard all
about it.
Oh, I'm sure you did.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:50):
I'm sure you did Not one of my finer
moments.
So we got Nacho out and I washolding him on the slip leash
and we were patiently waiting.
They were getting one of theareas cleaned up so we could go
in and let him run take somepictures.
And we had that.
I think it was me.
I was like hey let's he's kindof sitting, let's take some
(02:11):
pictures real quick.
So I kind of transitioned andgot behind him.
I was like all right, sit down.
Well, nacho's been around theblock time he's like, I know how
to get out of this leash wellinstead of sitting down, he
backed up and ducked that headand he was gone in an instant.
I look up and Nacho was goingacross Bethany and he went into
(02:33):
where that convenience store isover there and he's just running
and every once in a while youcan see him.
So I take off running overthere.
Alexis does not.
Community Outreach Coordina (02:40):
I'm sitting on the other side of
the road and I just see Riprunning this way In between the
buildings.
He's running the opposite way.
I was dying laughing but I waslike I had to get on that side
to come and help him.
But it was, oh my gosh.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (02:58):
I'm back there in full uniform and I'm
running and I'm yelling andyelling Nacho and he'll stop and
he'll look at me and he'll takea couple steps and then he
thinks it's a game.
He'll take off again.
Well then you know, yourcoworker Tammy comes back there
and she's got this lasso, and hecomes running by and it's like
she just catches him out ofmidair.
I'm like really Made me lookbad, but Nacho was a good dog.
He ended well too, so I'm gladhe found his forever home.
Animal Services Officer Ka (03:21):
Yeah , he's a great dog great.
Community Outreach Coordinat (03:22):
We have a lot of fun going down to
the shelter yeah, so can youtell me a little bit about what
you do for the department?
Animal Services Officer Karl (03:29):
so animal services, um, we, we do
a little bit of everything.
We, um, we, all of the officers, are about six of us um, we run
the shelter.
So any of the adoptions, umthat, you know, surrenders,
things like that um, anybodybrings in stray animals.
We do all the intake, we takecare of all the animals.
So we do all the cleaning inthe morning.
(03:50):
If anybody's on medication, wedo that.
We take them to the vet.
When they need to go to the vet, we make sure that they go for
their spaying and neutering.
We do all the basic medical onthem as well, on intake.
So we do all of that.
We microchip them before theygo and the staff does that.
So we're basically in charge oftheir care.
(04:11):
Aside from that, we alsodispatch all of the calls.
So one of us will be up at thefront and we're checking
messages, checking emails,taking phone calls and
dispatching officers to callsfor animals at large, injured
animals, just about anything,any animals that are deceased,
(04:32):
that are domestic, you know,dogs, cats, things like that.
We do get some wildlife calls.
So, aside from all of those, wealso get calls from either
police or fire that wheneverthey need assistance for various
things if there's an animalinvolved in any of their um
calls or cases, then we'reinvolved as well.
Um, we investigate dog bites, weinvestigate cruelty cases, um,
(04:58):
so there's a little bit of thecalls that we we run, so we do
kind of split ourselves up.
We all try to clean in themorning and take care of all the
animals, and then someone's inthe shelter helping the citizens
when we're open.
We're open thursday throughtuesday.
We're open every day except forwednesday.
So we help citizens withwhatever they're, if they're
(05:19):
there just to look at animals,or if they're there for adoption
, or if they're there for anycompliance issue or
registrations, things like that.
Community Outreach Coordina (05:27):
Are citizens able to volunteer or
foster any animals at theshelter?
Animal Services Officer Karl (05:31):
We do have a volunteer program and
we recently started partneringwith 501c3 named Bose Buddies
and you can be a foster for usthrough that organization, which
is great.
All that information should beon our website website or you
can call the shelter for that.
But yes, we're always acceptingadult volunteers and adult
fosters.
(05:51):
We always need the help to getthe animals out.
We have special VIP volunteersthat they are through.
Some of them are COPs, some ofthem are cert members, things
like that, so they have someextra certifications and things
like that.
They do help us with the phonecalls which we take a lot of I
(06:13):
imagine your phone rings justthe times we're in there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:16):
We hear non-stop all day.
Animal Services Officer Karla (06:18):
I don't remember the exact number
, um, but it was thousands ofphone calls that we took in over
the course of one year.
Oh, my goodness yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:26):
And I think y'all even helped with the
with the wild geese gettingreturned back to the park.
Animal Services Officer Kar (06:31):
Yes .
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:32):
Yeah, yes, a little bit of everything.
What kind of animals?
So obviously dogs and cats.
Are there other types ofanimals?
Y'all, y'all will take in.
Animal Services Officer Karl (06:41):
So we will accept any surrender
from an Allen resident, so theydon't have to live within the
city limits of Allen and we'lltake a surrender.
We do have a waiting list.
Right now we can't.
Our shelter is limited on space.
So we do have a waiting listand we'll take people as we can,
but we will take them.
And then we will accept anystray or injured domestic animal
(07:03):
from the city limits of Allen.
You don't have to be a residentto bring them in, but they do
need to be found within the citylimits.
And then any injured wildlifein the city limits we will
definitely respond to as well.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:18):
So I've seen lots of dogs and cats.
I think I've seen a guinea pigin there.
We've had guinea pigs.
Animal Services Officer K (07:25):
We've had ferrets.
We've had parakeets.
've had what else?
Lots of different birds andbearded dragons, things like
that.
We've had chickens.
We've had a lot of stuff.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:36):
So when y'all get like a, a bird or a
bearded dragon, you're all ableto still adopt those out as well
.
Mm-hmm, oh, wow, that's reallycool.
Animal Services Officer Kar (07:44):
Now there's a few caveats, like if
it's a species that is notallowed within the city of Allen
, we have to make sure that youknow they go to someone that
their jurisdiction will allow it?
Community Outreach Coordinat (07:55):
Do you have to be an Allen
resident to adopt an animal from?
Animal Services Officer K (07:58):
there , you do not.
No, okay, so from there, you donot know okay, so there's no
restriction on that.
You have to be an allenresident to surrender but not to
adopt.
Community Outreach Coor (08:04):
Anybody can come and adopt and how many
animals can they own?
Animal Services Officer Karl (08:08):
in the city?
That's a great question.
In the city of allen you areallowed to have four of each
species.
Okay, adults for adults.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:16):
So if you have, that's if you have a
mom and dad and you know fivepuppies.
Animal Services Officer (08:21):
That's fine, but once they hit adult
age, those puppies, once they'relike 12 weeks.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:25):
So four dogs, four cats.
Animal Services Officer (08:27):
Correct Four dogs, four cats, four
ferrets.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:29):
Four ferrets.
Animal Services Officer Ka (08:30):
Four bunnies, four guinea pigs, oh
my goodness.
Community Outreach Coordin (08:34):
It's a lot.
Animal Services Officer Ka (08:35):
That is a lot and you have to
register them, or Cats, dogs andferrets are required to be
registered with the city.
Yeah, okay, so you do um.
The state requires that dogs,cats and ferrets are are
currently um vaccinated againstrabies.
So, um.
So we just, with that um, withthat law in place, we make sure
that we verify all of those cats, dogs and ferrets, rabies
(08:57):
vaccinations, and then weregister them with the city.
You get a really cool tag.
So we have fun tags and on theback there's a qr code so, um,
people can put all theirinformation on on this little uh
profile and link it to the qrcode.
So if they do get lost, um, wedo uh regularly send animals
home over the phone becausesomeone will say, hey, there's a
(09:19):
dog with a city registrationtag, our numbers on the back.
They'll call um if they don'twant to scan it, because they
can a lot of times just scan itand then, take the dog home
themselves.
But if they want to call usinstead, we can pull up the
information, call the owner andsay go go, your pets over there
go get them reunited superhelpful.
Community Outreach Coordinat (09:36):
It is, it is yeah, is that new, or
you guys?
Animal Services Officer Ka (09:40):
have had it for a while, ish, it's
been a handful of years since westarted that, oh okay.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:44):
Well, we all have limited space, so I'm
sure that helps.
Yeah, for sure.
Animal Services Officer Kar (09:49):
Our goal whenever we go and pick up
an animal is to take it home assoon as possible.
So we scan for a microchip, wecheck any tags that they have
and then, if we have the time,we will run those numbers.
The shelter will run thenumbers or, if we can, in the
truck we'll do it.
And just until we get a hold ofsomeone so we know where to
take the animal to.
If not, if all else fails,we'll impound the animal, but we
(10:12):
prefer not to.
It's just easier just to takethem home.
They don't want to be there.
We don't need extra animals totake care of that's really cool.
So Carlolo are you?
From texas, not originally no,where are you from?
I'm from california california.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:28):
Did you work in the same profession in
california?
Animal Services Officer Karla (10:31):
I did not.
I actually um went to collegefor and studied zookeeping um
and animal training and wildlifeeducation, so I was a zookeeper
for many years before I came to.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:42):
Texas, really.
So what was that?
Can you talk about some of that?
Animal Services Officer Ka (10:48):
Sure .
So I started at the LivingDesert, which is a big zoo now
it's grown quite a bit in thePalm Springs area and I was
hired as the first relief keeperfor the giraffes.
It was a brand new exhibit sothey brought on extra staff to
take care of the giraffe exhibit.
So I was the relief keeper,which meant I was there on the
(11:12):
five day keepers days off so Itook care of them and I took
care of another, another stringin the area.
So I was there for severalyears.
I kind of bounced around andtook care of the giraffes.
Then I went to the show andworked at the wildlife education
show for a bit and then whenthe five-day keeper for giraffes
(11:33):
left, I took his position.
I went back to work with thegiraffes for another handful of
years.
Funny enough, they had three.
They had a breeding pair and agelded male and the um, the
female.
She was pregnant with her firstcalf, um.
At the same time I was pregnantwith my first child.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (11:53):
Oh wow, so um yeah, do they carry about
the same amount of time?
Animal Services Officer Karl (11:58):
no , no, they carry for longer,
really, yeah, so what's it like?
Like what which's it?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (12:02):
like being in an area with a giraffe.
I mean, that makes you feelreally small, I'm sure really
quick it is.
Animal Services Officer Kar (12:11):
And for the most part we did
protected, we were protectedcontact with them, which meant
we didn't, you know, go in therewith them.
We did a couple of times, if wefelt comfortable enough or, you
know, emergency kind ofsituations where we had to go in
there to rescue something, wewould, but for the most part we
tried, we just stayed on theother side of the barriers
(12:33):
because even there wereinstances where the giraffe was,
you know, wanting the.
We did a lot of training so wegave them treats like there's,
uh, horse cookies, yeah, that wewould feed them and, um, if you
weren't doing it enough, or ifyou were done and she would, you
know, want more, she would kickthe side of the, the side of
(12:54):
the defense there and um justsomething as easy as that.
You know they can really causesome damage, so we had to be
careful with that big animalsfor sure.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:03):
I'm sure you get attached to them,
though, and you're with themevery day it's hard to leave
them, probably in the end, yeahwe were.
Animal Services Officer Karl (13:10):
We were in close contact with the
baby once.
Once the baby was born, um wedid go in and like try to help
the kid because he had to learnthe routine he had to go out and
come back in things like that.
So we would round them up andand all of that good stuff.
Community Outreach Coord (13:23):
That's really cool Sounds like a lot
of fun.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:27):
And then you came to Texas.
Animal Services Officer Kar (13:28):
And then I came to Texas.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:31):
So would you go back into a zoo type
position?
Animal Services Officer Karla (13:34):
I didn't.
Um, we came out to Texasbecause, um, my husband got a
really great opportunity and hehad moved multiple times on my
account for my career.
So it was, you know, my turn tobe supportive so we came out
here and, um, I was, I tried todo the stay-at-home mom thing
for a bit.
I thought that would be greatand he's like go ahead, you can
you know if you want to.
(13:54):
That lasted a few weeks before.
He's like you, you gotta go geta job.
It's not for me.
Um, I, I needed, I neededsomething to do, yeah, so I did
little things.
I went to pet smart for a bit,just so I could work with
animals again.
Um, I didn't realize that thedallas zoo was so far away from
mckinney, which is where we hadlanded.
(14:15):
Um, so that was kind of like,oh, put the damper in the plans.
Um, and then I decided to goand I needed more of a full-time
job.
So I went to work as a.
I used my education backgroundto go work at a daycare, to be a
afterschool care teacher, andthat lasted for a couple of
(14:38):
years, and then I thought I needsomething a little less
stressful and the policedepartment sounded like a great.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:45):
Oh, a little less stressful for sure.
Yes, yeah, and here you are.
Animal Services Officer Karla (14:50):
I think my husband said why don't
you look into animal control,like that's an interesting idea?
And I did and here I am.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:57):
That's right, so you've been here a
while now.
Animal Services Officer Ka (15:00):
I've been here over eight years now.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (15:02):
Wow, I remember when you got hired.
Yeah, time flies.
Animal Services Officer Karl (15:07):
It does.
It's been an adjustment butit's been really great and my
zoo background really preparedme for a lot of the animals that
we work with here, because Ididn't just work with giraffes,
I bounced around in differentareas of the zoo.
So I think by the time I leftthere I did two stays at the zoo
(15:30):
in Palm Springs and then I dida couple of years at the wild
animal park, which are where Iworked at the hospital, and we
did a lot of.
So there's a lot of species Iworked with there.
But I think by the time I gotback I did.
I did rehab, I did carnivores,I did hoofstock, I did birds, I
did all sorts of differentthings.
So I was really well-rounded bythe time I came here and I got
(15:53):
thrown out to chase snakes andchase geese across the park and
chase whatever I got, to net outsome vultures that got stuck
over at Topgolf in their bignetted area.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:08):
I remember, when that happened.
Animal Services Officer K (16:09):
There was three vultures that got
stuck there and that was allsorts of fun.
I got to go out there and netthem out and put them back out.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:17):
Yeah, so it was fun.
Those were the fun days.
Community Outreach Coordi (16:19):
Those would bite you.
Animal Services Officer Karla (16:21):
I don't see.
But again, I was just workingwith raptors and with all sorts
of other birds.
I am not.
Yeah that's not for me.
I was well prepared to workwith some of these guys.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:34):
Matter of fact, I had a call one day.
I was up at the outlet mall anda lady came running into my
office.
It was when I was still officedat the outlets.
She said I have a giant snakecrawling into the hood of my car
.
I was like I don't know whatyou're telling me.
I have a gun, you know, I'lltake care of that snake problem.
(16:56):
No, so I go out there and sureenough, there is it's between
four and five feet long big oldrat snake crawling up into the
hood compartment area of her carand I was like she's like I
gotta get it out.
And I was like, yeah, I'm nottouching that.
So at the time we call theanimal control out there.
I don't think she's hereanymore, but she gets there and
(17:18):
she's like, oh yeah, that's therat snake and she just
immediately starts pulling onthe snake and I'm like what?
No fear, just reached in there,grabbed this big old snake, put
it in the truck and it was gone.
Animal Services Officer Karla (17:33):
I was like that's not for me,
nope.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (17:36):
I don't do it with snakes.
Community Outreach Coord (17:38):
What's new to your unit?
Animal Services Officer Karl (17:41):
We just got turf installed in the
different yards that we have atthe shelter, so that's pretty
new.
That's a huge upgrade to theshelter and the dogs are
enjoying it.
We're enjoying it.
It's really nice.
No more, you know, muddy,because we had a lot of rain
this past month.
So no huge mud storms.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:00):
That is nice.
Yeah, we went over there andlooked at it we you know, when
we come by we try to have anofficer take pictures with you
know a pet each week, and it is,it's very nice and I think the
officers appreciate it becausethey don't get muddy.
Community Outreach Coordin (18:15):
Yeah , sometimes the dogs like to
play and jump around and theywould uh leave a little muddy.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:21):
So but it's beautiful.
You know, last week they hadthe bulldog out there.
I don't think he's that y'allhave him anymore, right I think
he was adopted.
Animal Services Officer Ka (18:28):
Yeah , that's wonderful figgy right.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:30):
But yes, you talk about a bull in a
china cabinet.
If it would have been muddy, wewould have all been covered in
mud that day because he I meanto the point where he even
dumped the water bowl overbecause he was just playing with
everything.
Yeah, yeah, it was a mess.
Animal Services Officer Karla (18:44):
I mean they have fun and you
don't mind being messy, but it'shard to keep the shelter clean
and it's hard to keep you knowthe citizens clean and everybody
else presentable.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:52):
Well, that place has always got people
coming in and out.
We do?
Animal Services Officer Karl (18:56):
We have a lot of traffic.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:57):
I'd like to see more leaving than coming
though we would as well.
Animal Services Officer Kar (19:00):
Yes , for sure.
Community Outreach Coordin (19:01):
Yeah , you guys have a lot of
beautiful dogs.
Animal Services Officer Karl (19:04):
We do.
We have some really great dogstoo, but it's just adoptions are
slow.
And it's not just us, it's kindof countrywide right now.
Adoptions are just slow.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (19:15):
So for a website, where would you go
find all your current listings?
Animal Services Officer Karl (19:20):
So for adoptable animals it's
going to be on Pet Finder.
Go to the City of Allen PetFinder.
You can find it there and allof the links are on our city web
page as well, do you update itpretty regularly?
We update it as often as we can.
Yeah, so we try to get to itevery morning and then as
animals are adopted.
But there is, you know, thatoff chance that we're busy with
(19:43):
stuff and we haven't gotten achance to update it.
So if somebody calls, it's greatto call ahead.
If you're looking for aspecific dog, Like hey, is that
one still available?
Community Outreach Coordinat (19:58):
We can let you know yes or no and
if citizens would like to donate.
Or you know, or is there?
Animal Services Office (20:00):
anything that you guys need at the
animal shelter, absolutely yes.
So again, on our website you'llsee our wish list.
There is a just a general wishlist of things that we can
accept all the time, and then wehave an amazon wish list that
that we add to occasionally, thethings that we specifically
need.
But for anything else, you know, just call the shelter and
we'll let you know what we needright at that moment, because
(20:21):
we'll get influxes of things.
So I'm like we need blanketsand then we'll get 500 blankets,
which is awesome.
But then we're like, okay,we're good on blankets, we need
food.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:29):
Yeah, so for the people listening, if
you want to find out moreinformation about donations to
the animal shelter, you can goto the allenpoliceorg website
and go to animal services andit's all listed on there.
Animal Services Officer Kar (20:41):
Yep , that's where everything is.
You can apply to be a volunteer.
You can check our donation.
We have a donor box as well, soyou can donate directly.
On that website you can take alook at the stray animals we
have and a link to our adoptableanimals.
So it's all on the website.
Community Outreach Coordinat (20:58):
So , Carla, there's a story that
I've heard.
Are you able to talk about thegiraffes a little bit more About
the giraffes?
Well, I heard there's a storyabout maybe one escaping or
something.
Yes, getting out.
Animal Services Officer Karl (21:12):
So we did um, there was a day that
, uh, I think we were all wemight have been just after lunch
and we got a call over theradio that there was a code red
over in the african section andthe keeper was just very, uh,
distraught about the code, right, animal like it's, this is not
a drill and let's go.
So we didn't even he didn'teven say what animal was out.
(21:34):
So we all grabbed um whateverwe had available and jumped on
our golf carts, which usuallythat meant rakes and shovels and
you know things like that, um,and and headed out to where it's
a location.
he said, um, when we got therewe realized it was one of the
giraffes that he had.
There was a gate, um, theyusually come through and it
(21:56):
should be closed.
And when he came through it wasactually open.
So the giraffe stepped out andthen didn't quite, couldn't
quite, figure out how to getback where he needed to be.
So luckily it was down on aberm, um, so he he was not
likely to come up uphill.
They don't, they don't climb,they don't do a whole lot of
that very well.
(22:17):
So um, so all the keeper staffshowed up and we kind of formed
a barrier and we were trying tokeep him in that area until we
can figure out what we weregoing to do.
We were concerned about himgetting getting up and you know,
if he did make it into um whichagain it would be unlikely, but
because it was called a code ofred, our weapons team came out
(22:39):
and at the time it was, it wasmade up of our construction crew
, some of the garden guys, someof the maintenance guys.
So they came out and they, like, set up behind all of us with
their rifles and all the things,just in case, because it is a
dangerous animal.
If he did get in front wherethe public was, he could
(22:59):
potentially you know injure orkill somebody if he started
stampeding through and justfreaked out.
Not that he they're aggressiveanimals, but they, they are
flighty animals and a flightyanimal can still be very
dangerous.
So, um, they did that, which Ithink made the rest of us really
nervous, since we were in frontof them.
Um and uh, at the time I Irealized what it was that
(23:23):
happened and with the gate.
So I went in through, or Italked to my supervisor and was
like hey, can we just try topull that gate open the other
way, which I did.
I snuck in through the barn andpulled the gate forward, and
that gave him enough of a visualopening for him to step back
into the area and shut it.
Yeah, so on the heels of that wekind of talked about the fact
(23:47):
that we should have some peoplewith animal experience on the
weapons team and that kind ofprompted me to join the weapons
team.
So both me and my supervisorjoined.
Um, I was always reallyterrified of of weapons, just
maybe not the gardener on theweapons team.
Yeah, maybe not the gardener onthe weapons team, and I mean
they, they were all that.
(24:08):
You had to qualify, you had togo through you know quite um
some rigorous training and youknow nothing against them.
But they, they handled theweapons great, but they didn't
have, they didn't know how toread the animal at the time.
So we figured we were worried,you know, if they, if they got a
little, a little excited, um,we knew that there wasn't
anything to worry about in thatparticular moment, but they
(24:28):
didn't necessarily know that.
Um, so we had.
We had other instances withanimals that we had to have
their help with stuff, and theywere anything.
Anytime somebody got squirrely,they were the first ones out
out of the pen and we were leftholding no tigers or anything
like that.
No, we didn't have no, not atour zoo, no, but anyway, that
was the story were there anyother animals that would get out
(24:52):
like, or commonly known to getout?
I know there's some smartanimals at the zoo yes, I'm
trying to think what else did wehave get out?
We had a tortoise um take offon a um on a golf cart once the
keeper was yeah, so the keeperwas taking the tortoises to the
hospital for their annual exams.
(25:14):
Everybody gets an exam once ayear, so she had loaded up these
pretty large Salcata tortoisesand she had put one on the floor
of the golf cart while she wentand shut the gate.
Community Outreach Coordina (25:28):
And .
Animal Services Officer Karla (25:28):
I guess it stepped on the gas and
like just ran through the gateand about ran her over.
So that was that's fun runawaytortoise.
I mean there's, when you'reworking with animals, there's
always fun stories adventureevery day.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:45):
It is.
Animal Services Officer (25:45):
That's what I love about it.
I was uh never know what I'mwalking into at work.
Community Outreach Coordinat (25:50):
If there's one thing you could
tell the community, what wouldit be?
Animal Services Officer (25:59):
There's a lot of things I would tell
the community, but as far as thesafety of your own pets, make
sure that you have everybody allyour cats, dogs and ferrets
vaccinated against rabies.
We do have wild animals thatget tested positive for rabies
every year, so we know it'ssomething that we don't.
We're like, oh yeah, everyonehas rabies vaccines.
It's fine, but it does come up.
We do see positive animals.
It hasn't come up in ourdomestic population.
But just make sure you get youranimals vaccinated and
(26:22):
registered with the city andmicrochipped for sure and spayed
and neutered.
That would cover all the bases.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:29):
And as far as surrendering a pet, don't
just show up and drop them off,correct?
Animal Services Officer (26:33):
Please don't show up and drop them off
.
Correct?
Please don't show up and dropthem off.
So it is jurisdictional.
I know we would love to help,you know, not just our community
, but anybody that needs tosurrender pets, but it is
jurisdictional.
We can only accept animals fromCity of Allen residents.
And then there is a way to doit.
We need to make sure that wehave those kennels set up for
(26:53):
animals that are truly stray ortruly injured, truly need our
help.
So if you can, you know, hangon to your pet a little longer,
try to rehome them yourself.
But if you have to surrender itto us, just make sure you call
and make an appointment and thenwe'll get you in as soon as we
can.
Community Outreach Coordinat (27:09):
Is there resources that you guys
provide?
Like you know, say, someone ishaving hard times and they can't
feed you know their animal orthey're needing a little bit
help and I know that you guyswant to keep from them
surrendering animals at time,absolutely.
Is there ways that you guys canalso help?
Animal Services Officer Karl (27:25):
or yeah, sure, if, depending on
your situation, definitely reachout to the shelter, we can
always um find resources or finda way to help.
But the Allen ACO is there anda lot of times we refer people
there.
There are pet food pantries.
There's a lot of just any foodpantries in the area.
A lot of times they have aseparate section for pet food.
(27:48):
We do donate a lot of food tothe ACO and to um uh, some of
the meals on wheels kind ofprograms that um that help with
that.
So get in touch with thoseplaces and if you can't just
call, call us directly.
You know, if you need some help,um, we do ask those questions
when people surrender, why doyou need to surrender?
If it's, if it's a matter ofyou know it's um're needing some
(28:12):
resources.
They just go through a hardtime.
We have helped citizens outwith stuff like that too, so
they can keep their pets.
We do what we can, and ifanybody has any other ideas or
knows of organizations that helpwith things like that, we would
love to know about it too, sowe can provide those resources
to our citizens.
Community Outreach Coordinat (28:28):
Is that also for vaccines as well?
Animal Services Officer Kar (28:30):
Yes , Okay, yeah.
Is that also for vaccines aswell?
Yes, okay, yeah, there's.
I mean, the low cost vaccineclinic that's most popular out
here is TCAP.
They're located in severalcities in the area, but there
are also mobile clinics that popup here and there.
So if we know about them, or ifsomebody knows about them, let
us know and we can add that aswell as a resource.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (28:53):
Well, Karla, we really appreciate you
coming and talking to us today.
Animal Services Officer Karla (28:57):
I have so much respect for what
y'all do I mean it's nonstopover there.
It is.
We stay busy.
So if we can't always get tosomething right away, it's
because we're running in 500different directions.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:09):
Y'all aren't sitting at a desk very
much, I wouldn't think no, sothank you so much.
Only one on the phone.
Thank you for coming out todayand taking the time.
If you'd like to learn moreabout animal services or the
Allen Police Department, go toallenpoliceorg, and all that
information is on our website.
You can also stay up to datewith our upcoming events that we
have.
Community Outreach Coordina (29:28):
And make sure to like and subscribe
, and if you have any questions,leave them down in the comments
below.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:32):
We'll see you next time.
Community Outreach Coordina (29:36):
Bye .
Welcome back to another episode of Allen
Police.
Behind the Badge, we're yourhosts, officer Sam Rippamonti
and Alexus Birmingham.
Community Outreach Coordina (00:08):
And today our guest is Senior
Animal Services Officer KarlaButler.
Thank you for joining us today.
You're welcome.
Thank you for having me.
Yeah, hey.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (00:16):
Karla.
So we're going to talk aboutwhat you do for the Allen Animal
Shelter, but, off the top ofyour head, think of any, any fun
stories that you've gone to orcalls that you've had here in
the city of Allen or in yourcareer and this profession.
Animal Services Officer Karl (00:33):
Oh , so many of them.
Um, we we've had a lot oflong-term residents.
One of our longest was um, adog that we chased around the
city for three or four weeks,from Highway 75 all the way to
Exchange over by the tenniscourts at the high school, which
(00:55):
is where she was finally caught.
So that was quite a funadventure.
We spent a lot of man hourschasing her, finally caught her
and she had some medical issueswhile at the shelter.
And we got her through all ofthat and eventually she was
adopted by a wonderful family,but it took her just over a year
.
And she was the last dog thatcleared the shelter that year
(01:17):
before she was adopted what washer name?
Stacy.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:21):
And y'all had one just recently,
that was it Nacho.
Oh and Nacho, yeah, we had himfor he beat her.
Animal Services Officer Ka (01:29):
Yeah , he beat her record.
He was there for um a year andseveral months before we got him
adopted.
Community Outreach Coordinato (01:37):
I remember when you let him slip
the leash, that one day.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:40):
Side story about Nacho was we were,
we were, uh, we were trying tohelp out you out.
We wanted to find Nacho a home,so were you there that day?
Animal Services Officer Karla (01:48):
I wasn't there, but I heard all
about it.
Oh, I'm sure you did.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (01:50):
I'm sure you did Not one of my finer
moments.
So we got Nacho out and I washolding him on the slip leash
and we were patiently waiting.
They were getting one of theareas cleaned up so we could go
in and let him run take somepictures.
And we had that.
I think it was me.
I was like hey let's he's kindof sitting, let's take some
(02:11):
pictures real quick.
So I kind of transitioned andgot behind him.
I was like all right, sit down.
Well, nacho's been around theblock time he's like, I know how
to get out of this leash wellinstead of sitting down, he
backed up and ducked that headand he was gone in an instant.
I look up and Nacho was goingacross Bethany and he went into
(02:33):
where that convenience store isover there and he's just running
and every once in a while youcan see him.
So I take off running overthere.
Alexis does not.
Community Outreach Coordina (02:40):
I'm sitting on the other side of
the road and I just see Riprunning this way In between the
buildings.
He's running the opposite way.
I was dying laughing but I waslike I had to get on that side
to come and help him.
But it was, oh my gosh.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (02:58):
I'm back there in full uniform and I'm
running and I'm yelling andyelling Nacho and he'll stop and
he'll look at me and he'll takea couple steps and then he
thinks it's a game.
He'll take off again.
Well then you know, yourcoworker Tammy comes back there
and she's got this lasso, and hecomes running by and it's like
she just catches him out ofmidair.
I'm like really Made me lookbad, but Nacho was a good dog.
He ended well too, so I'm gladhe found his forever home.
Animal Services Officer Ka (03:21):
Yeah , he's a great dog great.
Community Outreach Coordinat (03:22):
We have a lot of fun going down to
the shelter yeah, so can youtell me a little bit about what
you do for the department?
Animal Services Officer Karl (03:29):
so animal services, um, we, we do
a little bit of everything.
We, um, we, all of the officers, are about six of us um, we run
the shelter.
So any of the adoptions, umthat, you know, surrenders,
things like that um, anybodybrings in stray animals.
We do all the intake, we takecare of all the animals.
So we do all the cleaning inthe morning.
(03:50):
If anybody's on medication, wedo that.
We take them to the vet.
When they need to go to the vet, we make sure that they go for
their spaying and neutering.
We do all the basic medical onthem as well, on intake.
So we do all of that.
We microchip them before theygo and the staff does that.
So we're basically in charge oftheir care.
(04:11):
Aside from that, we alsodispatch all of the calls.
So one of us will be up at thefront and we're checking
messages, checking emails,taking phone calls and
dispatching officers to callsfor animals at large, injured
animals, just about anything,any animals that are deceased,
(04:32):
that are domestic, you know,dogs, cats, things like that.
We do get some wildlife calls.
So, aside from all of those, wealso get calls from either
police or fire that wheneverthey need assistance for various
things if there's an animalinvolved in any of their um
calls or cases, then we'reinvolved as well.
Um, we investigate dog bites, weinvestigate cruelty cases, um,
(04:58):
so there's a little bit of thecalls that we we run, so we do
kind of split ourselves up.
We all try to clean in themorning and take care of all the
animals, and then someone's inthe shelter helping the citizens
when we're open.
We're open thursday throughtuesday.
We're open every day except forwednesday.
So we help citizens withwhatever they're, if they're
(05:19):
there just to look at animals,or if they're there for adoption
, or if they're there for anycompliance issue or
registrations, things like that.
Community Outreach Coordina (05:27):
Are citizens able to volunteer or
foster any animals at theshelter?
Animal Services Officer Karl (05:31):
We do have a volunteer program and
we recently started partneringwith 501c3 named Bose Buddies
and you can be a foster for usthrough that organization, which
is great.
All that information should beon our website website or you
can call the shelter for that.
But yes, we're always acceptingadult volunteers and adult
fosters.
(05:51):
We always need the help to getthe animals out.
We have special VIP volunteersthat they are through.
Some of them are COPs, some ofthem are cert members, things
like that, so they have someextra certifications and things
like that.
They do help us with the phonecalls which we take a lot of I
(06:13):
imagine your phone rings justthe times we're in there.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:16):
We hear non-stop all day.
Animal Services Officer Karla (06:18):
I don't remember the exact number
, um, but it was thousands ofphone calls that we took in over
the course of one year.
Oh, my goodness yeah.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:26):
And I think y'all even helped with the
with the wild geese gettingreturned back to the park.
Animal Services Officer Kar (06:31):
Yes .
Officer Sam Rippamonti (06:32):
Yeah, yes, a little bit of everything.
What kind of animals?
So obviously dogs and cats.
Are there other types ofanimals?
Y'all, y'all will take in.
Animal Services Officer Karl (06:41):
So we will accept any surrender
from an Allen resident, so theydon't have to live within the
city limits of Allen and we'lltake a surrender.
We do have a waiting list.
Right now we can't.
Our shelter is limited on space.
So we do have a waiting listand we'll take people as we can,
but we will take them.
And then we will accept anystray or injured domestic animal
(07:03):
from the city limits of Allen.
You don't have to be a residentto bring them in, but they do
need to be found within the citylimits.
And then any injured wildlifein the city limits we will
definitely respond to as well.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:18):
So I've seen lots of dogs and cats.
I think I've seen a guinea pigin there.
We've had guinea pigs.
Animal Services Officer K (07:25):
We've had ferrets.
We've had parakeets.
've had what else?
Lots of different birds andbearded dragons, things like
that.
We've had chickens.
We've had a lot of stuff.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (07:36):
So when y'all get like a, a bird or a
bearded dragon, you're all ableto still adopt those out as well
.
Mm-hmm, oh, wow, that's reallycool.
Animal Services Officer Kar (07:44):
Now there's a few caveats, like if
it's a species that is notallowed within the city of Allen
, we have to make sure that youknow they go to someone that
their jurisdiction will allow it?
Community Outreach Coordinat (07:55):
Do you have to be an Allen
resident to adopt an animal from?
Animal Services Officer K (07:58):
there , you do not.
No, okay, so from there, you donot know okay, so there's no
restriction on that.
You have to be an allenresident to surrender but not to
adopt.
Community Outreach Coor (08:04):
Anybody can come and adopt and how many
animals can they own?
Animal Services Officer Karl (08:08):
in the city?
That's a great question.
In the city of allen you areallowed to have four of each
species.
Okay, adults for adults.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:16):
So if you have, that's if you have a
mom and dad and you know fivepuppies.
Animal Services Officer (08:21):
That's fine, but once they hit adult
age, those puppies, once they'relike 12 weeks.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:25):
So four dogs, four cats.
Animal Services Officer (08:27):
Correct Four dogs, four cats, four
ferrets.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (08:29):
Four ferrets.
Animal Services Officer Ka (08:30):
Four bunnies, four guinea pigs, oh
my goodness.
Community Outreach Coordin (08:34):
It's a lot.
Animal Services Officer Ka (08:35):
That is a lot and you have to
register them, or Cats, dogs andferrets are required to be
registered with the city.
Yeah, okay, so you do um.
The state requires that dogs,cats and ferrets are are
currently um vaccinated againstrabies.
So, um.
So we just, with that um, withthat law in place, we make sure
that we verify all of those cats, dogs and ferrets, rabies
(08:57):
vaccinations, and then weregister them with the city.
You get a really cool tag.
So we have fun tags and on theback there's a qr code so, um,
people can put all theirinformation on on this little uh
profile and link it to the qrcode.
So if they do get lost, um, wedo uh regularly send animals
home over the phone becausesomeone will say, hey, there's a
(09:19):
dog with a city registrationtag, our numbers on the back.
They'll call um if they don'twant to scan it, because they
can a lot of times just scan itand then, take the dog home
themselves.
But if they want to call usinstead, we can pull up the
information, call the owner andsay go go, your pets over there
go get them reunited superhelpful.
Community Outreach Coordinat (09:36):
It is, it is yeah, is that new, or
you guys?
Animal Services Officer Ka (09:40):
have had it for a while, ish, it's
been a handful of years since westarted that, oh okay.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (09:44):
Well, we all have limited space, so I'm
sure that helps.
Yeah, for sure.
Animal Services Officer Kar (09:49):
Our goal whenever we go and pick up
an animal is to take it home assoon as possible.
So we scan for a microchip, wecheck any tags that they have
and then, if we have the time,we will run those numbers.
The shelter will run thenumbers or, if we can, in the
truck we'll do it.
And just until we get a hold ofsomeone so we know where to
take the animal to.
If not, if all else fails,we'll impound the animal, but we
(10:12):
prefer not to.
It's just easier just to takethem home.
They don't want to be there.
We don't need extra animals totake care of that's really cool.
So Carlolo are you?
From texas, not originally no,where are you from?
I'm from california california.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:28):
Did you work in the same profession in
california?
Animal Services Officer Karla (10:31):
I did not.
I actually um went to collegefor and studied zookeeping um
and animal training and wildlifeeducation, so I was a zookeeper
for many years before I came to.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (10:42):
Texas, really.
So what was that?
Can you talk about some of that?
Animal Services Officer Ka (10:48):
Sure .
So I started at the LivingDesert, which is a big zoo now
it's grown quite a bit in thePalm Springs area and I was
hired as the first relief keeperfor the giraffes.
It was a brand new exhibit sothey brought on extra staff to
take care of the giraffe exhibit.
So I was the relief keeper,which meant I was there on the
(11:12):
five day keepers days off so Itook care of them and I took
care of another, another stringin the area.
So I was there for severalyears.
I kind of bounced around andtook care of the giraffes.
Then I went to the show andworked at the wildlife education
show for a bit and then whenthe five-day keeper for giraffes
(11:33):
left, I took his position.
I went back to work with thegiraffes for another handful of
years.
Funny enough, they had three.
They had a breeding pair and agelded male and the um, the
female.
She was pregnant with her firstcalf, um.
At the same time I was pregnantwith my first child.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (11:53):
Oh wow, so um yeah, do they carry about
the same amount of time?
Animal Services Officer Karl (11:58):
no , no, they carry for longer,
really, yeah, so what's it like?
Like what which's it?
Officer Sam Rippamonti (12:02):
like being in an area with a giraffe.
I mean, that makes you feelreally small, I'm sure really
quick it is.
Animal Services Officer Kar (12:11):
And for the most part we did
protected, we were protectedcontact with them, which meant
we didn't, you know, go in therewith them.
We did a couple of times, if wefelt comfortable enough or, you
know, emergency kind ofsituations where we had to go in
there to rescue something, wewould, but for the most part we
tried, we just stayed on theother side of the barriers
(12:33):
because even there wereinstances where the giraffe was,
you know, wanting the.
We did a lot of training so wegave them treats like there's,
uh, horse cookies, yeah, that wewould feed them and, um, if you
weren't doing it enough, or ifyou were done and she would, you
know, want more, she would kickthe side of the, the side of
(12:54):
the defense there and um justsomething as easy as that.
You know they can really causesome damage, so we had to be
careful with that big animalsfor sure.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:03):
I'm sure you get attached to them,
though, and you're with themevery day it's hard to leave
them, probably in the end, yeahwe were.
Animal Services Officer Karl (13:10):
We were in close contact with the
baby once.
Once the baby was born, um wedid go in and like try to help
the kid because he had to learnthe routine he had to go out and
come back in things like that.
So we would round them up andand all of that good stuff.
Community Outreach Coord (13:23):
That's really cool Sounds like a lot
of fun.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:27):
And then you came to Texas.
Animal Services Officer Kar (13:28):
And then I came to Texas.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (13:31):
So would you go back into a zoo type
position?
Animal Services Officer Karla (13:34):
I didn't.
Um, we came out to Texasbecause, um, my husband got a
really great opportunity and hehad moved multiple times on my
account for my career.
So it was, you know, my turn tobe supportive so we came out
here and, um, I was, I tried todo the stay-at-home mom thing
for a bit.
I thought that would be greatand he's like go ahead, you can
you know if you want to.
(13:54):
That lasted a few weeks before.
He's like you, you gotta go geta job.
It's not for me.
Um, I, I needed, I neededsomething to do, yeah, so I did
little things.
I went to pet smart for a bit,just so I could work with
animals again.
Um, I didn't realize that thedallas zoo was so far away from
mckinney, which is where we hadlanded.
(14:15):
Um, so that was kind of like,oh, put the damper in the plans.
Um, and then I decided to goand I needed more of a full-time
job.
So I went to work as a.
I used my education backgroundto go work at a daycare, to be a
afterschool care teacher, andthat lasted for a couple of
(14:38):
years, and then I thought I needsomething a little less
stressful and the policedepartment sounded like a great.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:45):
Oh, a little less stressful for sure.
Yes, yeah, and here you are.
Animal Services Officer Karla (14:50):
I think my husband said why don't
you look into animal control,like that's an interesting idea?
And I did and here I am.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (14:57):
That's right, so you've been here a
while now.
Animal Services Officer Ka (15:00):
I've been here over eight years now.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (15:02):
Wow, I remember when you got hired.
Yeah, time flies.
Animal Services Officer Karl (15:07):
It does.
It's been an adjustment butit's been really great and my
zoo background really preparedme for a lot of the animals that
we work with here, because Ididn't just work with giraffes,
I bounced around in differentareas of the zoo.
So I think by the time I leftthere I did two stays at the zoo
(15:30):
in Palm Springs and then I dida couple of years at the wild
animal park, which are where Iworked at the hospital, and we
did a lot of.
So there's a lot of species Iworked with there.
But I think by the time I gotback I did.
I did rehab, I did carnivores,I did hoofstock, I did birds, I
did all sorts of differentthings.
So I was really well-rounded bythe time I came here and I got
(15:53):
thrown out to chase snakes andchase geese across the park and
chase whatever I got, to net outsome vultures that got stuck
over at Topgolf in their bignetted area.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:08):
I remember, when that happened.
Animal Services Officer K (16:09):
There was three vultures that got
stuck there and that was allsorts of fun.
I got to go out there and netthem out and put them back out.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:17):
Yeah, so it was fun.
Those were the fun days.
Community Outreach Coordi (16:19):
Those would bite you.
Animal Services Officer Karla (16:21):
I don't see.
But again, I was just workingwith raptors and with all sorts
of other birds.
I am not.
Yeah that's not for me.
I was well prepared to workwith some of these guys.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (16:34):
Matter of fact, I had a call one day.
I was up at the outlet mall anda lady came running into my
office.
It was when I was still officedat the outlets.
She said I have a giant snakecrawling into the hood of my car
.
I was like I don't know whatyou're telling me.
I have a gun, you know, I'lltake care of that snake problem.
(16:56):
No, so I go out there and sureenough, there is it's between
four and five feet long big oldrat snake crawling up into the
hood compartment area of her carand I was like she's like I
gotta get it out.
And I was like, yeah, I'm nottouching that.
So at the time we call theanimal control out there.
I don't think she's hereanymore, but she gets there and
(17:18):
she's like, oh yeah, that's therat snake and she just
immediately starts pulling onthe snake and I'm like what?
No fear, just reached in there,grabbed this big old snake, put
it in the truck and it was gone.
Animal Services Officer Karla (17:33):
I was like that's not for me,
nope.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (17:36):
I don't do it with snakes.
Community Outreach Coord (17:38):
What's new to your unit?
Animal Services Officer Karl (17:41):
We just got turf installed in the
different yards that we have atthe shelter, so that's pretty
new.
That's a huge upgrade to theshelter and the dogs are
enjoying it.
We're enjoying it.
It's really nice.
No more, you know, muddy,because we had a lot of rain
this past month.
So no huge mud storms.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:00):
That is nice.
Yeah, we went over there andlooked at it we you know, when
we come by we try to have anofficer take pictures with you
know a pet each week, and it is,it's very nice and I think the
officers appreciate it becausethey don't get muddy.
Community Outreach Coordin (18:15):
Yeah , sometimes the dogs like to
play and jump around and theywould uh leave a little muddy.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:21):
So but it's beautiful.
You know, last week they hadthe bulldog out there.
I don't think he's that y'allhave him anymore, right I think
he was adopted.
Animal Services Officer Ka (18:28):
Yeah , that's wonderful figgy right.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:30):
But yes, you talk about a bull in a
china cabinet.
If it would have been muddy, wewould have all been covered in
mud that day because he I meanto the point where he even
dumped the water bowl overbecause he was just playing with
everything.
Yeah, yeah, it was a mess.
Animal Services Officer Karla (18:44):
I mean they have fun and you
don't mind being messy, but it'shard to keep the shelter clean
and it's hard to keep you knowthe citizens clean and everybody
else presentable.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:52):
Well, that place has always got people
coming in and out.
We do?
Animal Services Officer Karl (18:56):
We have a lot of traffic.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (18:57):
I'd like to see more leaving than coming
though we would as well.
Animal Services Officer Kar (19:00):
Yes , for sure.
Community Outreach Coordin (19:01):
Yeah , you guys have a lot of
beautiful dogs.
Animal Services Officer Karl (19:04):
We do.
We have some really great dogstoo, but it's just adoptions are
slow.
And it's not just us, it's kindof countrywide right now.
Adoptions are just slow.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (19:15):
So for a website, where would you go
find all your current listings?
Animal Services Officer Karl (19:20):
So for adoptable animals it's
going to be on Pet Finder.
Go to the City of Allen PetFinder.
You can find it there and allof the links are on our city web
page as well, do you update itpretty regularly?
We update it as often as we can.
Yeah, so we try to get to itevery morning and then as
animals are adopted.
But there is, you know, thatoff chance that we're busy with
(19:43):
stuff and we haven't gotten achance to update it.
So if somebody calls, it's greatto call ahead.
If you're looking for aspecific dog, Like hey, is that
one still available?
Community Outreach Coordinat (19:58):
We can let you know yes or no and
if citizens would like to donate.
Or you know, or is there?
Animal Services Office (20:00):
anything that you guys need at the
animal shelter, absolutely yes.
So again, on our website you'llsee our wish list.
There is a just a general wishlist of things that we can
accept all the time, and then wehave an amazon wish list that
that we add to occasionally, thethings that we specifically
need.
But for anything else, you know, just call the shelter and
we'll let you know what we needright at that moment, because
(20:21):
we'll get influxes of things.
So I'm like we need blanketsand then we'll get 500 blankets,
which is awesome.
But then we're like, okay,we're good on blankets, we need
food.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (20:29):
Yeah, so for the people listening, if
you want to find out moreinformation about donations to
the animal shelter, you can goto the allenpoliceorg website
and go to animal services andit's all listed on there.
Animal Services Officer Kar (20:41):
Yep , that's where everything is.
You can apply to be a volunteer.
You can check our donation.
We have a donor box as well, soyou can donate directly.
On that website you can take alook at the stray animals we
have and a link to our adoptableanimals.
So it's all on the website.
Community Outreach Coordinat (20:58):
So , Carla, there's a story that
I've heard.
Are you able to talk about thegiraffes a little bit more About
the giraffes?
Well, I heard there's a storyabout maybe one escaping or
something.
Yes, getting out.
Animal Services Officer Karl (21:12):
So we did um, there was a day that
, uh, I think we were all wemight have been just after lunch
and we got a call over theradio that there was a code red
over in the african section andthe keeper was just very, uh,
distraught about the code, right, animal like it's, this is not
a drill and let's go.
So we didn't even he didn'teven say what animal was out.
(21:34):
So we all grabbed um whateverwe had available and jumped on
our golf carts, which usuallythat meant rakes and shovels and
you know things like that, um,and and headed out to where it's
a location.
he said, um, when we got therewe realized it was one of the
giraffes that he had.
There was a gate, um, theyusually come through and it
(21:56):
should be closed.
And when he came through it wasactually open.
So the giraffe stepped out andthen didn't quite, couldn't
quite, figure out how to getback where he needed to be.
So luckily it was down on aberm, um, so he he was not
likely to come up uphill.
They don't, they don't climb,they don't do a whole lot of
that very well.
(22:17):
So um, so all the keeper staffshowed up and we kind of formed
a barrier and we were trying tokeep him in that area until we
can figure out what we weregoing to do.
We were concerned about himgetting getting up and you know,
if he did make it into um whichagain it would be unlikely, but
because it was called a code ofred, our weapons team came out
(22:39):
and at the time it was, it wasmade up of our construction crew
, some of the garden guys, someof the maintenance guys.
So they came out and they, like, set up behind all of us with
their rifles and all the things,just in case, because it is a
dangerous animal.
If he did get in front wherethe public was, he could
(22:59):
potentially you know injure orkill somebody if he started
stampeding through and justfreaked out.
Not that he they're aggressiveanimals, but they, they are
flighty animals and a flightyanimal can still be very
dangerous.
So, um, they did that, which Ithink made the rest of us really
nervous, since we were in frontof them.
Um and uh, at the time I Irealized what it was that
(23:23):
happened and with the gate.
So I went in through, or Italked to my supervisor and was
like hey, can we just try topull that gate open the other
way, which I did.
I snuck in through the barn andpulled the gate forward, and
that gave him enough of a visualopening for him to step back
into the area and shut it.
Yeah, so on the heels of that wekind of talked about the fact
(23:47):
that we should have some peoplewith animal experience on the
weapons team and that kind ofprompted me to join the weapons
team.
So both me and my supervisorjoined.
Um, I was always reallyterrified of of weapons, just
maybe not the gardener on theweapons team.
Yeah, maybe not the gardener onthe weapons team, and I mean
they, they were all that.
(24:08):
You had to qualify, you had togo through you know quite um
some rigorous training and youknow nothing against them.
But they, they handled theweapons great, but they didn't
have, they didn't know how toread the animal at the time.
So we figured we were worried,you know, if they, if they got a
little, a little excited, um,we knew that there wasn't
anything to worry about in thatparticular moment, but they
(24:28):
didn't necessarily know that.
Um, so we had.
We had other instances withanimals that we had to have
their help with stuff, and theywere anything.
Anytime somebody got squirrely,they were the first ones out
out of the pen and we were leftholding no tigers or anything
like that.
No, we didn't have no, not atour zoo, no, but anyway, that
was the story were there anyother animals that would get out
(24:52):
like, or commonly known to getout?
I know there's some smartanimals at the zoo yes, I'm
trying to think what else did wehave get out?
We had a tortoise um take offon a um on a golf cart once the
keeper was yeah, so the keeperwas taking the tortoises to the
hospital for their annual exams.
(25:14):
Everybody gets an exam once ayear, so she had loaded up these
pretty large Salcata tortoisesand she had put one on the floor
of the golf cart while she wentand shut the gate.
Community Outreach Coordina (25:28):
And .
Animal Services Officer Karla (25:28):
I guess it stepped on the gas and
like just ran through the gateand about ran her over.
So that was that's fun runawaytortoise.
I mean there's, when you'reworking with animals, there's
always fun stories adventureevery day.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (25:45):
It is.
Animal Services Officer (25:45):
That's what I love about it.
I was uh never know what I'mwalking into at work.
Community Outreach Coordinat (25:50):
If there's one thing you could
tell the community, what wouldit be?
Animal Services Officer (25:59):
There's a lot of things I would tell
the community, but as far as thesafety of your own pets, make
sure that you have everybody allyour cats, dogs and ferrets
vaccinated against rabies.
We do have wild animals thatget tested positive for rabies
every year, so we know it'ssomething that we don't.
We're like, oh yeah, everyonehas rabies vaccines.
It's fine, but it does come up.
We do see positive animals.
It hasn't come up in ourdomestic population.
But just make sure you get youranimals vaccinated and
(26:22):
registered with the city andmicrochipped for sure and spayed
and neutered.
That would cover all the bases.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (26:29):
And as far as surrendering a pet, don't
just show up and drop them off,correct?
Animal Services Officer (26:33):
Please don't show up and drop them off
.
Correct?
Please don't show up and dropthem off.
So it is jurisdictional.
I know we would love to help,you know, not just our community
, but anybody that needs tosurrender pets, but it is
jurisdictional.
We can only accept animals fromCity of Allen residents.
And then there is a way to doit.
We need to make sure that wehave those kennels set up for
(26:53):
animals that are truly stray ortruly injured, truly need our
help.
So if you can, you know, hangon to your pet a little longer,
try to rehome them yourself.
But if you have to surrender itto us, just make sure you call
and make an appointment and thenwe'll get you in as soon as we
can.
Community Outreach Coordinat (27:09):
Is there resources that you guys
provide?
Like you know, say, someone ishaving hard times and they can't
feed you know their animal orthey're needing a little bit
help and I know that you guyswant to keep from them
surrendering animals at time,absolutely.
Is there ways that you guys canalso help?
Animal Services Officer Karl (27:25):
or yeah, sure, if, depending on
your situation, definitely reachout to the shelter, we can
always um find resources or finda way to help.
But the Allen ACO is there anda lot of times we refer people
there.
There are pet food pantries.
There's a lot of just any foodpantries in the area.
A lot of times they have aseparate section for pet food.
(27:48):
We do donate a lot of food tothe ACO and to um uh, some of
the meals on wheels kind ofprograms that um that help with
that.
So get in touch with thoseplaces and if you can't just
call, call us directly.
You know, if you need some help,um, we do ask those questions
when people surrender, why doyou need to surrender?
If it's, if it's a matter ofyou know it's um're needing some
(28:12):
resources.
They just go through a hardtime.
We have helped citizens outwith stuff like that too, so
they can keep their pets.
We do what we can, and ifanybody has any other ideas or
knows of organizations that helpwith things like that, we would
love to know about it too, sowe can provide those resources
to our citizens.
Community Outreach Coordinat (28:28):
Is that also for vaccines as well?
Animal Services Officer Kar (28:30):
Yes , Okay, yeah.
Is that also for vaccines aswell?
Yes, okay, yeah, there's.
I mean, the low cost vaccineclinic that's most popular out
here is TCAP.
They're located in severalcities in the area, but there
are also mobile clinics that popup here and there.
So if we know about them, or ifsomebody knows about them, let
us know and we can add that aswell as a resource.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (28:53):
Well, Karla, we really appreciate you
coming and talking to us today.
Animal Services Officer Karla (28:57):
I have so much respect for what
y'all do I mean it's nonstopover there.
It is.
We stay busy.
So if we can't always get tosomething right away, it's
because we're running in 500different directions.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:09):
Y'all aren't sitting at a desk very
much, I wouldn't think no, sothank you so much.
Only one on the phone.
Thank you for coming out todayand taking the time.
If you'd like to learn moreabout animal services or the
Allen Police Department, go toallenpoliceorg, and all that
information is on our website.
You can also stay up to datewith our upcoming events that we
have.
Community Outreach Coordina (29:28):
And make sure to like and subscribe
, and if you have any questions,leave them down in the comments
below.
Officer Sam Rippamonti (29:32):
We'll see you next time.
Community Outreach Coordina (29:36):
Bye .
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