Allen Police: Behind the Badge

From Giraffes to German Shepherds: Animal Services Officer Karla Butler

• Allen Police Department • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Senior Animal Services Officer Karla Butler takes us behind the scenes of animal control in Allen, sharing her remarkable journey from California zookeeper to Texas animal services professional. Her stories range from heart-warming to hilarious—from Stacy, the elusive dog who led officers on a three-week chase across the city before becoming a shelter favorite, to the adventures of trying to recapture Nacho after he slipped his leash during a photo opportunity.

Butler offers fascinating insights into shelter operations, explaining how the six-person team handles everything from animal care and adoptions to emergency response and cruelty investigations. The shelter houses not just cats and dogs but occasionally ferrets, birds, bearded dragons, and even chickens—all available for adoption regardless of where the adopter lives. Her description of answering thousands of phone calls annually while managing daily animal care paints a picture of dedicated professionals working tirelessly behind the scenes.

What makes Butler's perspective truly unique is her extensive zookeeping background. Her stories about caring for giraffes, joining a zoo's emergency weapons team, and chasing runaway tortoises provide entertaining context for her current role. This diverse experience prepared her perfectly for Allen's animal control challenges, from netting vultures trapped at Topgolf to wrangling snakes from car engines.

The conversation highlights recent shelter improvements like new turf installation in the dog yards and emphasizes the importance of pet vaccination, microchipping, and proper registration. Butler also discusses resources available for pet owners facing hardship, underscoring the shelter's commitment to keeping pets with their families whenever possible. Want to help? Visit allenpolice.org to learn about volunteer opportunities, fostering through Bose Buddies, and how to support the shelter's mission of finding forever homes for animals in need.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Welcome back to another episode of Allen Police. Behind the Badge, we're your hosts, officer Sam Rippamonti and Alexus Birmingham.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

And today our guest is Senior Animal Services Officer Karla Butler. Thank you for joining us today. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Yeah, hey.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Karla. So we're going to talk about what you do for the Allen Animal Shelter, but, off the top of your head, think of any, any fun stories that you've gone to or calls that you've had here in the city of Allen or in your career and this profession.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Oh, so many of them. Um, we we've had a lot of long-term residents. One of our longest was um, a dog that we chased around the city for three or four weeks, from Highway 75 all the way to Exchange over by the tennis courts at the high school, which is where she was finally caught. So that was quite a fun adventure. We spent a lot of man hours chasing her, finally caught her and she had some medical issues while at the shelter. And we got her through all of that and eventually she was adopted by a wonderful family, but it took her just over a year.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

And she was the last dog that cleared the shelter that year before she was adopted what was her name? Stacy.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

And y'all had one just recently, that was it Nacho. Oh and Nacho, yeah, we had him for he beat her.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yeah, he beat her record. He was there for um a year and several months before we got him adopted.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

I remember when you let him slip the leash, that one day.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Side story about Nacho was we were, we were, uh, we were trying to help out you out. We wanted to find Nacho a home, so were you there that day?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I wasn't there, but I heard all about it. Oh, I'm sure you did.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I'm sure you did Not one of my finer moments. So we got Nacho out and I was holding him on the slip leash and we were patiently waiting. They were getting one of the areas cleaned up so we could go in and let him run take some pictures. And we had that. I think it was me. I was like hey let's he's kind of sitting, let's take some pictures real quick. So I kind of transitioned and got behind him. I was like all right, sit down.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Well, nacho's been around the block time he's like, I know how to get out of this leash well instead of sitting down, he backed up and ducked that head and he was gone in an instant. I look up and Nacho was going across Bethany and he went into where that convenience store is over there and he's just running and every once in a while you can see him. So I take off running over there. Alexis does not.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

I'm sitting on the other side of the road and I just see Rip running this way In between the buildings. He's running the opposite way. I was dying laughing but I was like I had to get on that side to come and help him. But it was, oh my gosh.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I'm back there in full uniform and I'm running and I'm yelling and yelling Nacho and he'll stop and he'll look at me and he'll take a couple steps and then he thinks it's a game. He'll take off again. Well then you know, your coworker Tammy comes back there and she's got this lasso, and he comes running by and it's like she just catches him out of midair. I'm like really Made me look bad, but Nacho was a good dog. He ended well too, so I'm glad he found his forever home.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yeah, he's a great dog great.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

We have a lot of fun going down to the shelter yeah, so can you tell me a little bit about what you do for the department?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

so animal services, um, we, we do a little bit of everything. We, um, we, all of the officers, are about six of us um, we run the shelter. So any of the adoptions, um that, you know, surrenders, things like that um, anybody brings in stray animals. We do all the intake, we take care of all the animals. So we do all the cleaning in the morning. If anybody's on medication, we do that. We take them to the vet. When they need to go to the vet, we make sure that they go for their spaying and neutering. We do all the basic medical on them as well, on intake. So we do all of that. We microchip them before they go and the staff does that. So we're basically in charge of their care.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Aside from that, we also dispatch all of the calls. So one of us will be up at the front and we're checking messages, checking emails, taking phone calls and dispatching officers to calls for animals at large, injured animals, just about anything, any animals that are deceased, that are domestic, you know, dogs, cats, things like that. We do get some wildlife calls. So, aside from all of those, we also get calls from either police or fire that whenever they need assistance for various things if there's an animal involved in any of their um calls or cases, then we're involved as well.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Um, we investigate dog bites, we investigate cruelty cases, um, so there's a little bit of the calls that we we run, so we do kind of split ourselves up. We all try to clean in the morning and take care of all the animals, and then someone's in the shelter helping the citizens when we're open. We're open thursday through tuesday. We're open every day except for wednesday. So we help citizens with whatever they're, if they're there just to look at animals, or if they're there for adoption, or if they're there for any compliance issue or registrations, things like that.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Are citizens able to volunteer or foster any animals at the shelter?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We do have a volunteer program and we recently started partnering with 501c3 named Bose Buddies and you can be a foster for us through that organization, which is great. All that information should be on our website website or you can call the shelter for that. But yes, we're always accepting adult volunteers and adult fosters. We always need the help to get the animals out. We have special VIP volunteers that they are through. Some of them are COPs, some of them are cert members, things like that, so they have some extra certifications and things like that. They do help us with the phone calls which we take a lot of I imagine your phone rings just the times we're in there.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

We hear non-stop all day.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I don't remember the exact number, um, but it was thousands of phone calls that we took in over the course of one year. Oh, my goodness yeah.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

And I think y'all even helped with the with the wild geese getting returned back to the park.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yes.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Yeah, yes, a little bit of everything. What kind of animals? So obviously dogs and cats. Are there other types of animals? Y'all, y'all will take in.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So we will accept any surrender from an Allen resident, so they don't have to live within the city limits of Allen and we'll take a surrender. We do have a waiting list. Right now we can't. Our shelter is limited on space. So we do have a waiting list and we'll take people as we can, but we will take them. And then we will accept any stray or injured domestic animal from the city limits of Allen. You don't have to be a resident to bring them in, but they do need to be found within the city limits. And then any injured wildlife in the city limits we will definitely respond to as well.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So I've seen lots of dogs and cats. I think I've seen a guinea pig in there. We've had guinea pigs.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We've had ferrets. We've had parakeets. 've had what else? Lots of different birds and bearded dragons, things like that. We've had chickens. We've had a lot of stuff.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So when y'all get like a, a bird or a bearded dragon, you're all able to still adopt those out as well. Mm-hmm, oh, wow, that's really cool.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Now there's a few caveats, like if it's a species that is not allowed within the city of Allen, we have to make sure that you know they go to someone that their jurisdiction will allow it?

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Do you have to be an Allen resident to adopt an animal from?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

there, you do not. No, okay, so from there, you do not know okay, so there's no restriction on that. You have to be an allen resident to surrender but not to adopt.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Anybody can come and adopt and how many animals can they own?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

in the city? That's a great question. In the city of allen you are allowed to have four of each species. Okay, adults for adults.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So if you have, that's if you have a mom and dad and you know five puppies.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

That's fine, but once they hit adult age, those puppies, once they're like 12 weeks.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So four dogs, four cats.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Correct Four dogs, four cats, four ferrets.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Four ferrets.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Four bunnies, four guinea pigs, oh my goodness.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

It's a lot.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

That is a lot and you have to register them, or Cats, dogs and ferrets are required to be registered with the city. Yeah, okay, so you do um. The state requires that dogs, cats and ferrets are are currently um vaccinated against rabies.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So, um. So we just, with that um, with that law in place, we make sure that we verify all of those cats, dogs and ferrets, rabies vaccinations, and then we register them with the city. You get a really cool tag. So we have fun tags and on the back there's a qr code so, um, people can put all their information on on this little uh profile and link it to the qr code.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So if they do get lost, um, we do uh regularly send animals home over the phone because someone will say, hey, there's a dog with a city registration tag, our numbers on the back. They'll call um if they don't want to scan it, because they can a lot of times just scan it and then, take the dog home themselves. But if they want to call us instead, we can pull up the information, call the owner and say go go, your pets over there go get them reunited super helpful.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

It is, it is yeah, is that new, or you guys?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

have had it for a while, ish, it's been a handful of years since we started that, oh okay.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Well, we all have limited space, so I'm sure that helps. Yeah, for sure.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Our goal whenever we go and pick up an animal is to take it home as soon as possible. So we scan for a microchip, we check any tags that they have and then, if we have the time, we will run those numbers. The shelter will run the numbers or, if we can, in the truck we'll do it. And just until we get a hold of someone so we know where to take the animal to. If not, if all else fails, we'll impound the animal, but we prefer not to. It's just easier just to take them home. They don't want to be there. We don't need extra animals to take care of that's really cool.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So Carlolo are you? From texas, not originally no, where are you from? I'm from california california.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Did you work in the same profession in california?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I did not. I actually um went to college for and studied zookeeping um and animal training and wildlife education, so I was a zookeeper for many years before I came to.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Texas, really. So what was that? Can you talk about some of that?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Sure. So I started at the Living Desert, which is a big zoo now it's grown quite a bit in the Palm Springs area and I was hired as the first relief keeper for the giraffes. It was a brand new exhibit so they brought on extra staff to take care of the giraffe exhibit. So I was the relief keeper, which meant I was there on the five day keepers days off so I took care of them and I took care of another, another string in the area. So I was there for several years. I kind of bounced around and took care of the giraffes. Then I went to the show and worked at the wildlife education show for a bit and then when the five-day keeper for giraffes left, I took his position. I went back to work with the giraffes for another handful of years. Funny enough, they had three. They had a breeding pair and a gelded male and the um, the female. She was pregnant with her first calf, um. At the same time I was pregnant with my first child.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Oh wow, so um yeah, do they carry about the same amount of time?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

no, no, they carry for longer, really, yeah, so what's it like? Like what which's it?

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

like being in an area with a giraffe. I mean, that makes you feel really small, I'm sure really quick it is.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

And for the most part we did protected, we were protected contact with them, which meant we didn't, you know, go in there with them. We did a couple of times, if we felt comfortable enough or, you know, emergency kind of situations where we had to go in there to rescue something, we would, but for the most part we tried, we just stayed on the other side of the barriers because even there were instances where the giraffe was, you know, wanting the. We did a lot of training so we gave them treats like there's, uh, horse cookies, yeah, that we would feed them and, um, if you weren't doing it enough, or if you were done and she would, you know, want more, she would kick the side of the, the side of the defense there and um just something as easy as that.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

You know they can really cause some damage, so we had to be careful with that big animals for sure.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I'm sure you get attached to them, though, and you're with them every day it's hard to leave them, probably in the end, yeah we were.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We were in close contact with the baby once. Once the baby was born, um we did go in and like try to help the kid because he had to learn the routine he had to go out and come back in things like that. So we would round them up and and all of that good stuff.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

That's really cool Sounds like a lot of fun.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

And then you came to Texas.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

And then I came to Texas.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So would you go back into a zoo type position?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I didn't. Um, we came out to Texas because, um, my husband got a really great opportunity and he had moved multiple times on my account for my career.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So it was, you know, my turn to be supportive so we came out here and, um, I was, I tried to do the stay-at-home mom thing for a bit. I thought that would be great and he's like go ahead, you can you know if you want to. That lasted a few weeks before. He's like you, you gotta go get a job. It's not for me. Um, I, I needed, I needed something to do, yeah, so I did little things. I went to pet smart for a bit, just so I could work with animals again. Um, I didn't realize that the dallas zoo was so far away from mckinney, which is where we had landed. Um, so that was kind of like, oh, put the damper in the plans. Um, and then I decided to go and I needed more of a full-time job. So I went to work as a. I used my education background to go work at a daycare, to be a afterschool care teacher, and that lasted for a couple of years, and then I thought I need something a little less stressful and the police department sounded like a great.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Oh, a little less stressful for sure. Yes, yeah, and here you are.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I think my husband said why don't you look into animal control, like that's an interesting idea? And I did and here I am.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That's right, so you've been here a while now.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I've been here over eight years now.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Wow, I remember when you got hired. Yeah, time flies.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

It does. It's been an adjustment but it's been really great and my zoo background really prepared me for a lot of the animals that we work with here, because I didn't just work with giraffes, I bounced around in different areas of the zoo. So I think by the time I left there I did two stays at the zoo in Palm Springs and then I did a couple of years at the wild animal park, which are where I worked at the hospital, and we did a lot of. So there's a lot of species I worked with there. But I think by the time I got back I did. I did rehab, I did carnivores, I did hoofstock, I did birds, I did all sorts of different things. So I was really well-rounded by the time I came here and I got thrown out to chase snakes and chase geese across the park and chase whatever I got, to net out some vultures that got stuck over at Topgolf in their big netted area.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I remember, when that happened.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

There was three vultures that got stuck there and that was all sorts of fun. I got to go out there and net them out and put them back out.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Yeah, so it was fun. Those were the fun days.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Those would bite you.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I don't see. But again, I was just working with raptors and with all sorts of other birds. I am not. Yeah that's not for me. I was well prepared to work with some of these guys.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Matter of fact, I had a call one day. I was up at the outlet mall and a lady came running into my office. It was when I was still officed at the outlets. She said I have a giant snake crawling into the hood of my car. I was like I don't know what you're telling me. I have a gun, you know, I'll take care of that snake problem.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

No, so I go out there and sure enough, there is it's between four and five feet long big old rat snake crawling up into the hood compartment area of her car and I was like she's like I gotta get it out. And I was like, yeah, I'm not touching that. So at the time we call the animal control out there. I don't think she's here anymore, but she gets there and she's like, oh yeah, that's the rat snake and she just immediately starts pulling on the snake and I'm like what?

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

No fear, just reached in there, grabbed this big old snake, put it in the truck and it was gone.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I was like that's not for me, nope.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I don't do it with snakes.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

What's new to your unit?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We just got turf installed in the different yards that we have at the shelter, so that's pretty new. That's a huge upgrade to the shelter and the dogs are enjoying it. We're enjoying it. It's really nice. No more, you know, muddy, because we had a lot of rain this past month. So no huge mud storms.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

That is nice. Yeah, we went over there and looked at it we you know, when we come by we try to have an officer take pictures with you know a pet each week, and it is, it's very nice and I think the officers appreciate it because they don't get muddy.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Yeah, sometimes the dogs like to play and jump around and they would uh leave a little muddy.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So but it's beautiful. You know, last week they had the bulldog out there. I don't think he's that y'all have him anymore, right I think he was adopted.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yeah, that's wonderful figgy right.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

But yes, you talk about a bull in a china cabinet. If it would have been muddy, we would have all been covered in mud that day because he I mean to the point where he even dumped the water bowl over because he was just playing with everything. Yeah, yeah, it was a mess.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I mean they have fun and you don't mind being messy, but it's hard to keep the shelter clean and it's hard to keep you know the citizens clean and everybody else presentable.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Well, that place has always got people coming in and out. We do?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We have a lot of traffic.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

I'd like to see more leaving than coming though we would as well.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yes, for sure.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Yeah, you guys have a lot of beautiful dogs.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

We do. We have some really great dogs too, but it's just adoptions are slow. And it's not just us, it's kind of countrywide right now. Adoptions are just slow.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

So for a website, where would you go find all your current listings?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So for adoptable animals it's going to be on Pet Finder. Go to the City of Allen Pet Finder. You can find it there and all of the links are on our city web page as well, do you update it pretty regularly? We update it as often as we can. Yeah, so we try to get to it every morning and then as animals are adopted. But there is, you know, that off chance that we're busy with stuff and we haven't gotten a chance to update it.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So if somebody calls, it's great to call ahead. If you're looking for a specific dog, Like hey, is that one still available?

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

We can let you know yes or no and if citizens would like to donate. Or you know, or is there?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

anything that you guys need at the animal shelter, absolutely yes. So again, on our website you'll see our wish list. There is a just a general wish list of things that we can accept all the time, and then we have an amazon wish list that that we add to occasionally, the things that we specifically need. But for anything else, you know, just call the shelter and we'll let you know what we need right at that moment, because we'll get influxes of things. So I'm like we need blankets and then we'll get 500 blankets, which is awesome. But then we're like, okay, we're good on blankets, we need food.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Yeah, so for the people listening, if you want to find out more information about donations to the animal shelter, you can go to the allenpoliceorg website and go to animal services and it's all listed on there.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yep, that's where everything is. You can apply to be a volunteer. You can check our donation. We have a donor box as well, so you can donate directly. On that website you can take a look at the stray animals we have and a link to our adoptable animals. So it's all on the website.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

So, Carla, there's a story that I've heard. Are you able to talk about the giraffes a little bit more About the giraffes? Well, I heard there's a story about maybe one escaping or something. Yes, getting out.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So we did um, there was a day that, uh, I think we were all we might have been just after lunch and we got a call over the radio that there was a code red over in the african section and the keeper was just very, uh, distraught about the code, right, animal like it's, this is not a drill and let's go. So we didn't even he didn't even say what animal was out. So we all grabbed um whatever we had available and jumped on our golf carts, which usually that meant rakes and shovels and you know things like that, um, and and headed out to where it's a location.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

he said, um, when we got there we realized it was one of the giraffes that he had. There was a gate, um, they usually come through and it should be closed. And when he came through it was actually open. So the giraffe stepped out and then didn't quite, couldn't quite, figure out how to get back where he needed to be. So luckily it was down on a berm, um, so he he was not likely to come up uphill. They don't, they don't climb, they don't do a whole lot of that very well.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So um, so all the keeper staff showed up and we kind of formed a barrier and we were trying to keep him in that area until we can figure out what we were going to do. We were concerned about him getting getting up and you know, if he did make it into um which again it would be unlikely, but because it was called a code of red, our weapons team came out and at the time it was, it was made up of our construction crew, some of the garden guys, some of the maintenance guys. So they came out and they, like, set up behind all of us with their rifles and all the things, just in case, because it is a dangerous animal. If he did get in front where the public was, he could potentially you know injure or kill somebody if he started stampeding through and just freaked out.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Not that he they're aggressive animals, but they, they are flighty animals and a flighty animal can still be very dangerous. So, um, they did that, which I think made the rest of us really nervous, since we were in front of them. Um and uh, at the time I I realized what it was that happened and with the gate. So I went in through, or I talked to my supervisor and was like hey, can we just try to pull that gate open the other way, which I did. I snuck in through the barn and pulled the gate forward, and that gave him enough of a visual opening for him to step back into the area and shut it.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yeah, so on the heels of that we kind of talked about the fact that we should have some people with animal experience on the weapons team and that kind of prompted me to join the weapons team. So both me and my supervisor joined. Um, I was always really terrified of of weapons, just maybe not the gardener on the weapons team.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yeah, maybe not the gardener on the weapons team, and I mean they, they were all that. You had to qualify, you had to go through you know quite um some rigorous training and you know nothing against them. But they, they handled the weapons great, but they didn't have, they didn't know how to read the animal at the time.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

So we figured we were worried, you know, if they, if they got a little, a little excited, um, we knew that there wasn't anything to worry about in that particular moment, but they didn't necessarily know that. Um, so we had. We had other instances with animals that we had to have their help with stuff, and they were anything. Anytime somebody got squirrely, they were the first ones out out of the pen and we were left holding no tigers or anything like that.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

No, we didn't have no, not at our zoo, no, but anyway, that was the story were there any other animals that would get out like, or commonly known to get out? I know there's some smart animals at the zoo yes, I'm trying to think what else did we have get out? We had a tortoise um take off on a um on a golf cart once the keeper was yeah, so the keeper was taking the tortoises to the hospital for their annual exams.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Everybody gets an exam once a year, so she had loaded up these pretty large Salcata tortoises and she had put one on the floor of the golf cart while she went and shut the gate.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

And.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I guess it stepped on the gas and like just ran through the gate and about ran her over. So that was that's fun runaway tortoise. I mean there's, when you're working with animals, there's always fun stories adventure every day.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

It is.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

That's what I love about it. I was uh never know what I'm walking into at work.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

If there's one thing you could tell the community, what would it be?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

There's a lot of things I would tell the community, but as far as the safety of your own pets, make sure that you have everybody all your cats, dogs and ferrets vaccinated against rabies. We do have wild animals that get tested positive for rabies every year, so we know it's something that we don't. We're like, oh yeah, everyone has rabies vaccines. It's fine, but it does come up. We do see positive animals. It hasn't come up in our domestic population. But just make sure you get your animals vaccinated and registered with the city and microchipped for sure and spayed and neutered. That would cover all the bases.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

And as far as surrendering a pet, don't just show up and drop them off, correct?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Please don't show up and drop them off. Correct? Please don't show up and drop them off. So it is jurisdictional. I know we would love to help, you know, not just our community, but anybody that needs to surrender pets, but it is jurisdictional. We can only accept animals from City of Allen residents. And then there is a way to do it. We need to make sure that we have those kennels set up for animals that are truly stray or truly injured, truly need our help. So if you can, you know, hang on to your pet a little longer, try to rehome them yourself. But if you have to surrender it to us, just make sure you call and make an appointment and then we'll get you in as soon as we can.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Is there resources that you guys provide? Like you know, say, someone is having hard times and they can't feed you know their animal or they're needing a little bit help and I know that you guys want to keep from them surrendering animals at time, absolutely. Is there ways that you guys can also help?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

or yeah, sure, if, depending on your situation, definitely reach out to the shelter, we can always um find resources or find a way to help. But the Allen ACO is there and a lot of times we refer people there. There are pet food pantries. There's a lot of just any food pantries in the area. A lot of times they have a separate section for pet food. We do donate a lot of food to the ACO and to um uh, some of the meals on wheels kind of programs that um that help with that. So get in touch with those places and if you can't just call, call us directly.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

You know, if you need some help, um, we do ask those questions when people surrender, why do you need to surrender? If it's, if it's a matter of you know it's um're needing some resources. They just go through a hard time. We have helped citizens out with stuff like that too, so they can keep their pets. We do what we can, and if anybody has any other ideas or knows of organizations that help with things like that, we would love to know about it too, so we can provide those resources to our citizens.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Is that also for vaccines as well?

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

Yes, Okay, yeah. Is that also for vaccines as well? Yes, okay, yeah, there's. I mean, the low cost vaccine clinic that's most popular out here is TCAP. They're located in several cities in the area, but there are also mobile clinics that pop up here and there. So if we know about them, or if somebody knows about them, let us know and we can add that as well as a resource.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Well, Karla, we really appreciate you coming and talking to us today.

Animal Services Officer Karla Butler:

I have so much respect for what y'all do I mean it's nonstop over there. It is. We stay busy. So if we can't always get to something right away, it's because we're running in 500 different directions.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

Y'all aren't sitting at a desk very much, I wouldn't think no, so thank you so much. Only one on the phone. Thank you for coming out today and taking the time. If you'd like to learn more about animal services or the Allen Police Department, go to allenpoliceorg, and all that information is on our website. You can also stay up to date with our upcoming events that we have.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

And make sure to like and subscribe, and if you have any questions, leave them down in the comments below.

Officer Sam Rippamonti:

We'll see you next time.

Community Outreach Coordinator Alexus Birmingham:

Bye.