I’m not a fan of catchpoles – mainly because they seem to be misused so often – but I love that the Pinellas Co sheriff’s office in FL sent their staff for training in how to properly use the tool and then issued a press release about their first successful use!
Additional successes on November 14, 2011 included the use of the catch pole by a deputy to contain a dog and return it to its owner; help free a raccoon that had a small plastic jar stuck on its head in the Eastlake area; and remove a three foot alligator that had made its way into a residential area of Palm Harbor.
It’s a nice change of pace to read about law enforcement receiving proper animal handling training and then putting it to use instead of the usual “police shoot [fill in the animal]” headlines. Good for the Pinellas Co sheriff’s department!
That really is one of the cutest press releases I’ve seen in awhile. And really awesome to boot.
Catchpoles definitely have their place, but like any tool they can be misused. I think I’ve reached for one about twice in the past year, and I regularly work with dogs that are high bite risk.
Kudos to the Law Enforcement Agency. More agencys could learn from this and should learn from this! With Bradenton Florida going to no kill shelter status and this Law Enforcement Agency training on the correct use of using perhaps this can continue working into other states and animals will have a better chance of survival.