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No. 19 Vol. 3
www.mypaperonline.com • 973-809-4784
March 2023
Denville’s Champion for Animals Lives Her Calling Everyday
D
By Jillian Risberg enville animal control officer Meredith Petrillo is a dear friend to animals, doing all she can to be there in their time of need and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She says the hardest part of her job is not being able to do her job. “At times I am unable to help an animal or person with the animal; to know an animal is suffering because I was unable to get to it in time,” says Petrillo, who runs the Denville Animal Shelter. She must enforce local and state laws while caring for the attendees, and likes that her daily responsibilities are never the same. Deb Clark assists with the day-today cleaning and socializing of the shelter animals, while Petrillo patrols the town for violations and is there for those who need her assistance. She also runs the Happy Hound Playground (Denville dog park). The animal control officer’s passion for her job is through and through. “I am on the New Jersey endangered poisonous snake removal team as a volunteer for NJ Fish and Wildlife,” Petrillo says. “My job as I see it is 24/7, which is what I love.” According to Petrillo, animals found in Denville are placed in the shelter if they cannot immediately locate their owner, that’s why dogs and cats must be licensed. It also allows the shelter to know your pet is vaccinated against rabies. “Once the animal is placed in the shelter state law requires we scan the pet for a microchip,” says the animal control officer. “If the chip is registered we contact the owner to let them know their pet is safe. No ID we post a picture of the animal on social media, our best tool — as most animals
picked up are going home in five hours or less.” The shelter takes any species they have enough space for. Some are there for only a short time. “We have had alligators, large snakes, spiders, hedgehogs, miniature pigs, goats, exotic parrots they hold on the outside of the shelter until proper housing can be found,” Petrillo says they connect injured fox, coyote pup, baby skunks, baby raccoons with wildlife rehabbers. Not until recently has animal abandonment been a call they get in regard to dogs, she says cats however are left behind all the time. “If we are able to prove someone has abandoned an animal, they will be charged with animal cruelty,” says Petrillo. “With the use of video cameras we are now able to find these people where before it was difficult to prove.” Animals up for adoption are those no one claims, the owner surrenders or from other shelters or hoarding cases. “We provide these animals what they need to get into a home as quickly as possible,” Petrillo says as a no-kill shelter, any adoptable animal will stay as long as it takes to find a good home. “If an animal is aggressive to place for adoption we can’t jeopardize the welfare of the public to place that animal.” Animal control was not her chosen career. She first started working at horse farms to earn money to buy her own horse, then as a veterinary assistant and manager of a veterinary hospital. In 1991 Petrillo became Boonton’s animal control officer and later took on Rockaway. In 1997 Denville Township offered her a full-time animal control
Bailey, 133-pound St. Bernard currently up for adoption at the animal shelter
job. “In 2001 I became an animal cruelty investigator. After hurricane Katrina a local veterinarian, the office of emergency management of Morris and myself discussed the much needed response to disasters,” she says. “Over time the Morris County Animal Response team became a part of emergency management to provide animal rescue and shelter during disasters.” Her earliest memory of being drawn to animals dates back to age four or five. Petrillo’s neighbor across the street had a black Labrador retriever. “I remember running out of the house yelling to my mom the dog was loose, I’m chasing the dog as I heard her scream, ‘get back here, that’s not a dog — that’s a bear,’” says the animal control officer. “Other than that I spent many days at Cedar Lake catching turtles, frogs and snakes.” For more information, visit facebook.com/ FriendsoftheDenvilleAnimalShelter.