Welcome to Westport Health Notes, a monthly column from the Westport Board of Health (BOH).  The goal is to share information with our community about local issues and projects, public health alerts, and even fun facts about the A to Z scope of responsibility that local Boards of Health manage.

For the March column we welcome spring and give a shout-out to the Animal Control Office. The BOH took over the Animal Control Office in July 2019 as a result of a Town Meeting vote. One of the first things the BOH director did in the fall was to hire Nick Vidmar as a regular Assistant Animal Control Officer (instead of relying on several on-call assistants) to work alongside our veteran Animal Control Officer (ACO) Donna Lambert.

Both have regular office hours and provide on-call coverage during evenings and weekends. Donna’s office hours are 9 to 2 pm from Monday to Friday and Nick is in the office Wednesday to Friday 1 pm to 6 pm and weekends 9 to 2 pm. All other times, one of them is on call to provide 24-7 coverage. The ACO phone line is 774-264-5129. During on-call hours the phone is forwarded to whoever is on duty. Normally Donna or Nick will pick up the phone, unless they are on another call or are out in the field. If your call is urgent and no one picks up, it is important to leave a message with your name, phone number, address and nature of the call since the call forwarding system does not provide caller ID. 

The ACO and Assistant ACO are responsible for enforcing local ordinances, state statutes and regulations related to unlicensed dogs, leash law violations, unvaccinated pets (dogs, cats & ferrets), animal bite quarantines, and all animal complaints from the public. A big part of the job is also safely re-uniting lost pets with their owners. If your dog or cat is missing, please call Animal Control as soon as possible. Found dogs are held for 10 days and cats 3 days before begin turned over for adoption.

In a recent case, this adorable Yorkie mix was found in a church parking lot. A nearby resident brought it home and called Animal Control, who went to retrieve the dog. After scanning for a microchip, the Animal Control staff checked the list of dogs and the types licensed in Westport.   After looking at a map of where these breeds of dogs were, they were able to determine its home was likely right down the road. The Animal Control officer made contact with the owner who was looking for that dog. The dog was soon back home safe and sound. It’s a good reminder to be sure your dog’s license is up to date with the town (through the Town Clerk’s Office). 

The Animal Control Office also schedules one or two free rabies clinics per year, with the next one coming up on April 18 from 10 am to Noon at the Hixbridge Fire Station. Westport residents can have their pets vaccinated against rabies for free, while non-residents are charged $15. There has been a recent surge in cases of rabies in town, usually in raccoons, so it is important to make sure your pets are protected. Pets that are not vaccinated and are bitten by a rabid animal must undergo a four month quarantine. If your pet is vaccinated the quarantine is only 45 days. When necessary, rabies quarantine orders are issued by one of the state-appointed municipal Animal Inspectors. 

Another valuable program the Animal Control Office runs is the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program that controls the population of feral cats in Westport. Each season a specific area of town is targeted and the ACO schedules a trapping period to coincide with available low cost veterinarian appointments, as well as arranging a location to house the cats pre-and post-op. At the end of February Donna trapped 13 cats in two locations to manage colonies near Makady Court and Division Road. 

For all these valuable services and more, the Animal Control Office welcomes your support. Donations to the Animal Gift fund are used to provide medical care for stray and abandoned animals. The office also gratefully accepts donations of blankets, sheets, cat food and other supplies for TNR program. You can also get “I’m Animal Friendly” license plates for your vehicle. The proceeds are distributed through grants to local communities for subsidizing spay/neuter programs and other services. Westport typically gets around $6,000 a year. Much more information about the programs and services of the Animal Control office can be found at: https://www.westport-ma.com/animal-control.   Again, the ACO phone number is 774-264-5129.

Submitted by Tanja Ryden, board member