There are more than 20,000 dogs and 6000 cats registered in Wyndham, but they’re just part of the story for the animal management team at Wyndham council, which deals with thousands more pets and livestock each year.
Animal ranger Jill Hills said there was more to the job than met the eye for the eight people in the council’s animal management team.
“It’s more than just picking up dogs,” she said.
“Of course we do pick up dogs, cats, livestock and any other stray animals, but we also investigate attacks, noise complaints – any animal-related complaints or issues.
“We also investigate cruelty to animals.”
Earlier this year, the team was responsible for shutting down a Point Cook kitten factory that housed more than 70 Bengal cats.
Kevin Cheng was found guilty of breaching the Domestic Animals Act 1994 in the Sunshine Magistrates’ Court in July.
He was banned from breeding domestic animals for a decade and ordered to pay $32,000 in fines and costs.
“The win was for the cats,” Ms Hills said.
“Unfortunately, some of them had to get put down because of the cat flu, but we rehomed many of them.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Last week, officers caught two sheep found roaming around near Hoppers Crossing train station and brought them to the council pound on Old Geelong Road.
Then there was the case of the new home owners who found seven rabbits on their property when they moved in.
On windy days, stormy days or evenings when fireworks have been let off, the pound fills up quickly with scared pets that have escaped their properties.
Pound assistant Michelle Worland said one of her favourite parts of the job was reuniting lost pets with their owners or finding forever homes for strays.
This time of year, cat mating season, is particularly busy at the pound.
Ms Worland said that last year 180 cats came through the pound in one month during mating season.
“The influx is quite extreme,” she said.
“Pregnant [cats] are coming through, newborn kittens and we get older kittens coming through, too.
“Mum can be pregnant with a litter [feeding] off her.”
Ms Hills added: “They can have three or four pregnancies a year and then their litter is having offspring.”
The pound works with local rescue groups in a bid to rehome the staggering number of kittens that come through the doors.
Ms Worland does her bit by being a foster carer, looking after more than 80 kittens in the past three-and-a-half years until they were old enough to be adopted.
Being part of the team presents its share of occupational hazards.
One is the tendency of staff members to adopt stray cats and dogs.
Ms Worland has had ringworm from working closely with cats and kittens, and Ms Hills recently received 21 stitches on her hand when a dog, brought in for microchipping, gave her a nip.
“It’s not a dog attack, it was a dog bite,” she said. “The dog was not showing any signs of aggression … and as soon as the owner relaxed it’s hold, it went [in for the bite].
“It’s like a tradie dropping his hammer on to his foot – it’s an occupational hazard.”
