Animal control officers learn how to capture large animals

COLUMBUS - The city's animal control officers are better equipped to handle escaped livestock after participating in a large-animal-handling training session Tuesday.

Jeannie Warnke, lead animal control officer, said during one attempted capture, a number of police and animal control officers chased a calf from the corner of 18th Avenue and 23rd Street until it was captured on the Columbus High School practice field two hours later.

Because of an increase in livestock escapes in town, Warnke said, it was important to learn techniques to control and capture the animals.

“We keep facing this more and more,” she said, with escaped cattle, horses, pigs and goats. “We wanted to give better assistance by getting first hand knowledge.”

Mike Drinnin, owner of Drinnin Feedlots Inc., instructed the officers on how to control and corral a large animal.

“The biggest thing is to get them to calm down,” Drinnin said, because most of the time an animal escaped is because it got scared first.

If the animal is in an unfamiliar environment or is being chased it will stay scared, he said, so step back and let the animal relax, but try to direct them away from traffic and highly populated areas.

“When larger animals gets loose they start reverting back to a wild state,” Drinnin said. “Get away from them and they will calm down. In a populated area, let people know to stay away from the animal.”

He said the best thing to do is to corner the animal by a fence or in an open area and detain it until the owner, whom the animal is familiar with, arrives to capture the animal.

Warnke said the opportunity to interact with the cattle and observe to how they behave and move when frightened will be beneficial when the animal control officers respond to an escaped livestock call.

“This is a helpful tool,” she said. “We now know that fewer people do a better job. We will communicate that with community service technicians and police officers that help respond.”

“Our goal is to reduce damage to the cattle and property and keep the public safe,” Warnke said. “Keeping the animal calm, being able to isolate and hold them until the owner retrieves it” will accomplish that goal.