Blog 6

Questions for Second Interview: Mentor

·         What process do you have to go through to become an animal control officer?

·         In what ways does Animal Control work with SPCA’s, shelters and Humane Societies?

·         What are the benefits/downsides to being an Animal Control Officer?

·         What specifically is the job of an Animal Control Officer?

·         How do you deal mentally with your job? Such as putting down animals, taking them to kill shelters, ect?

·         How long have you been working with animals or as an Animal Control Officer?

·         What is the most difficult part of your job? Euthanizing animals, catching animals, paperwork?

Photo's of Glendora Animal Control Volunteering

This is the Animal Control Office at GLendora PD where I work on licences, filing and other computer services.

This is the Animal Control Truck which I ride in when I go on calls with the Animal Control Officer. You can see the side doors along the truck that have vents and an air conditioning system in them for when animals are inside.

This is out in the front of the Glendora PD where people pickup, and drop off lost or sheltered animals inside the Animal Control compound.

Blog 5a: Problem Statement

Content:

1) My Senior Project topic is Animal Control. Not just catching animals but working with shelters, the ASPCA, adopting out animals, working in the office and going on calls for wild animals as well. I am working with Glendora Police Department in the Animal Control office and my mentor is the main Animal Control officer in Glendora PD. 
 

2) Problem in your topic.  What will you do once you solve the problem?

One of the problems I am going to look into regarding Animal Control is the amount of Animal Control Officers in cities/ counties. There is a huge problem with cities no having enough, or not having any Animal Control Officers at all. Some cities don’t think it’s necessary to have one, can’t afford it or just use Humane Societies and shelters.  The issue with these alternatives is shelter and Humane Societies usually euthanize the animals unless you take the animal to a specific no-kill shelter. No having any Officers at all cause over populations in shelters, more homeless and at risk animals running around and more work for Humane Societies. To try and decipher this problem I will market to community councils near my area on how important it is too have Animal Control Officers and how needed they are. By doing this it will help other shelters and lower the rate of euthanizations in Southern California.

3) Problem in your topic.  What will you do once you solve the problem?

Another big problem in Animal Control is the amount of unaltered animals (animals that are not neutered). The biggest dilemma with not having neutered animals is the overpopulation of dogs and cats in cities. Some people don’t believe in altering their dogs or cats especially because of the cost. It is very expensive to spay/neuter an animal and because of this more unaltered animals stray away from home looking for a mate. Also, the cost to license and impound an unaltered animal can be up to triple the price. To solve this issue my best bet is finding alternative ways to help pet owners pay for spay/neuters and get as many unaltered animals off the streets. After doing this we can spread the word to other shelters, ASPCA offices and other Animal Control units on how to help lower the rate of unaltered animals that come in.

4) Problem in your topic. What will you do once you solve the problem?

A huge issue within Animal Control is the overpopulation of dogs/cats because there arent enough adoptions of them. A lot of shelter dogs are mutts and when people look for a new pet they usually go for the puppy, pure bread dog and these stray dogs are stuck. By spreading the word about how great it is to adopt an animal from animal control or another shelter it would reduce the amount of strays, amount of euthanizations and overpopulation of shelters.

5) Problem in your topic. What will you do once you solve the problem?

The euthanizations of dogs/ cats is a huge global problem regarding animal control, SPCA and Humane Socities. Depending on how the animal is put down, why they are put down and the method they are put down can become a big conflict. By making sure shelters are putting animals down for logical reasons or trying to push "no-kill" shelter methods would save millions of animals lives each year.

Working EQ

The Pentagon:

(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?

Two things that have really worked for me would be doing the research on Fridays and doing my interview. Research is one of the key components to this project and for just starting on Senior Project I already have learned a lot from what research I’ve gathered. Also, when I did my interview I got a lot of information from someone who works first hand with Animal Control, so that research is also beneficial for my project.

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?

In one of my articles, I believe the first one, it gives statistics of Animal Control departments all over the United States. It tells the readers how needed Animal Control is all over the world, how much help they give to animals and how dedicated they are to their jobs.

(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?

What has worked so far in my Senior Project would be taking notes in a notebook during my research. It works well because I am able to really concentrate on finding good, valuable information and having it to look back at in the future. It’s not tedious work for me, I like having that time in class to just work on research because I may not get that time in the future.

(4) What hasn't worked so far? 

Nothing hasn’t really not worked for my so far, but some things have been somewhat irrelevant to me. Such as doing the show and tell in class, it was interesting to see everyone’s topic but it was too much work just for that. Then having to do all these blogs, yes it is good to update what we’re doing, but it isn’t really useful to us, it’s just for the teachers to know we are staying on task with our work.

(5) Finding Value:  Based on your experience so far:

 What possible question or questions come to mind regarding what you would like to study this year?

Some questions that come to mind would be just how difficult it is to get a job as an Animal Control officer for a full time career? Are other future seniors going to find Animal Control as an interesting topic or possibly as their future topic? How can I make my topic an interesting topic to learn for my final presentation?

 What is your end goal this year with your senior project?

My main goal for the end of this year is just to be college ready. Whether its regarding my communication, presenting or working skills, I want to be prepared for my future. I want to be focused on my Senior Project but I also want to be up to date on my core classes as well. College is my future and I don’t want to go in unprepared so that is nothing but my main goal this year.

Who would you like to talk to you next? Why?

I would like to talk to one of the actually Animal Control officers at the Glendora Police Department. This is because those are the people I worked with most during my Summer Mentorship and who have the most experience with what I’m trying to learn for my project.

Interview Preparation

Content:

1.    For my first interview, I plan to interview a cadet from the Glendora Police Station. They work side by side with the main Animal Control officer in many ways. The cadets go on calls with the officer, help with investigations and by working closely with the officer they know a lot about being a good animal control officer. Some of the cadets have even been promoted to an animal control officer’s position in the past, so they are very capable of administering good qualifying answers.

2.    Besides the five mandatory questions we have to administer in the interview I plan to ask a few more. Some question will be directed on how the cadet feels about working with animal control and some will be directly concerning the tasks they do while working with animal control. Questions such as, how difficult is it to work in animal control? Would you consider being an animal control officIer? What type of training do you need to work with the animal control officer? Those are some of the extra questions I may ask in the mists of my first senior project interview.

Blog 2: Topic Choice

Content:

A.   My topic is Animal Control, I chose this topic because of the hard work, dedication and drive I have for helping all types of animals. Choosing this topic I thought going into it, I would mostly be seeing my mentor capturing animals, but there is a lot more than that. Animal control does investigations, adoptions and the seizing of all different types of creatures. I love animals so, knowing that animal control helps dogs, cats and other animals find homes, saves their lives and keep them safe is very appropriate for my senior topic.

• iPoly Citizen:  I plan to rescue, save and adopt out as many animals as possible when mentoring on animals control. This will help me improve an iPoly citizen because every time I share a story about a dog being saved, a cat being adopted out or a animal finding its right owner, it will make myself even more committed to my topic. I’ll enjoy the project more and hopefully that will carry on to others as well.  
• Effective Communicator:  I plan to focus hard on what my mentor is teaching me or what I will be learning throughout my mentorship volunteering. This will help me as a more effective learner because I will appreciate what I am being taught a lot more and also a value other people’s ideas. I won’t just focus on what needs to get done, but the artwork of the job and how to be great animal control officer.
• Effective Learner:  I plan to get as many service learning hours in as possible and be with my mentor as long as possible to learn as much as I can about animal control for my project. By doing exactly this, I cannot just learn more for myself but can teach others about my topic. I will be able to try and do my best on my work because I know I’ve learned as much as I can.
• Effective User of Technology: I plan to document all of my learning and keep track of what I learn for future reference. This will make me more effective as a user of technology because I can look back at what was document, when it was document and where for future projects and for a future career possibly. I’ll be able to document everything and share it with others, teach others and even learn from what I may not have remembered.