GILROY
– While patrol officers were getting ready to track down illegal
fireworks this Fourth of July, Gilroy Police Department animal
control officer Maria Cabatingan was making her own
preparations.
GILROY – While patrol officers were getting ready to track down illegal fireworks this Fourth of July, Gilroy Police Department animal control officer Maria Cabatingan was making her own preparations.
She was expecting an influx of frightened dogs. The cracks, booms and screams of fireworks – present in Gilroy streets every Independence Day – scare pets, and in their panicked state, many find ways to run away.
Most of the dogs Cabatingan found wandering around town between Sunday and Tuesday were clearly scared, she said.
“That’s why they got out originally,” she said. “They just wanted to escape that noise.”
“We always try to make sure our kennels are empty” going into July 4, Cabatingan said Tuesday as she showed The Dispatch four of the eight dogs that were checked in over the weekend. The other four had either been returned to their owners or taken to the San Martin Animal Shelter to make room for more. Normally GPD takes stray animals to a shelter in San Jose, but the shelter opened its doors to accommodate the overflow of dogs. At one point during the day, Gilroy police were forced to leave one dog in the animal control truck for a short time because the six kennels were full.
The GPD’s six kennels rarely fill, but according to Cabatingan, they always do just after Independence Day. No other holiday has as much canine impact, and she said fireworks are “absolutely” the reason.
“Most of these dogs seem well behaved and well fed; they just got out,” Cabatingan said. “We’d love to reunite them with their owners.”
That reunion process might become easier in the near future with a plan for the GPD to put pictures of found dogs on the city’s Web site, Cabatingan said. In the meantime, people have been calling police to look for their dogs. Cabatingan hopes all the pups will return home soon.
The San Martin Animal Shelter, which serves the rural portion of south Santa Clara County, has received 10 to 12 dogs since July 4 but only one cat, according to Program Director Phil Jewitt. Are cats less prone to being frightened by fireworks?
“Not necessarily,” Jewitt said. “Cats sometimes go away and then come back a few days later. (Owners) may not realize their cat has run away.”
Jewitt said the San Martin shelter sees runaway pets every Fourth of July. He expects more to be found over the next few days and more people to report them missing.
“People are coming back home today and realizing their animals are missing,” Jewitt said.
When pet owners leave town for the long weekend and leave their dogs behind, the animals are more likely to panic when they hear fireworks, Jewitt said.
“The dogs get scared,” he said. “They don’t know what’s happening. It also happens during thunderstorms as well.”
Leslie Smith, who lives near Sixth Street and Miller Avenue in Gilroy, knew her female shepherd mix freaked out every Independence Day and decided to do something about it this year. She ended up dosing the dog with a product she found on a pet store shelf, advertised as a calming aid for dogs and cats. Ingredients include herbs like chamomile flower, passion flower, ginger and tryptophan – the ingredient in turkey that prompts sleepiness in people.
“She was still frightened several times, but I can’t tell whether if she hadn’t taken it she would have been frightened more,” Smith said.
“If I had to make a bet, I would say it didn’t work,” she added, “but I just wanted to try something because it’s so heart-wrenching to see her get so scared.”
Smith also has a cat, but she didn’t give it any of the sedative.
“We don’t see much of her anyway,” Smith said. “I don’t really know if she’s scared or not.”
Pete Keesling, a veterinarian at the San Martin Veterinary Hospital, said he sometimes prescribes antihistamines to make pets groggy but added that dogs will still be scared if fireworks are particularly loud.
Peter Crowley covers public safety for The Dispatch. You can reach him at pc******@************ch.com or 847-7109.
