SUTTON -- Somewhere along the Glenn Highway between Chickaloon and Sutton, Darla Tampke slowed her white Chevrolet truck.
"There's the dog, right there," she said, pointing to a brown-and-black mutt in the weeds on the left side of the road.
Tampke rolled down her window, whistled and called out the window, "c'mere puppy dog!" It was the first call of the day for Tampke, an animal control officer for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The dog had been reported abandoned at a highway turnout.
Tampke grabbed a couple of dog treats and left the truck. The dog ran the other way. Soon, after much cajoling, the dog is safe in the dog box on the back of Tampke's truck.
"She did not like that," Tampke said, climbing back in.
Tampke was the only animal control officer on duty Monday, responsible for the department's entire 24,000-square-mile coverage area.
It never fails, Tampke joked. With one officer on duty, call volume explodes. When all four are on, it's quiet.
A quick look at the numbers shows Tampke's job is only getting busier. Last year the department received 5,603 calls for service - everything from barking dogs to starving horses to wild bulls ramming cars, according to department statistics. As of Monday, animal control in 2007 has logged 5,787 calls.
"We're getting our butts handed to us on calls for service," said Dave Allison, the borough animal control chief.
Tampke estimated that before the year was out they would likely log another 600 calls.
Allison chalks it up to growth -- the recent influx of people to the Valley has seen a concomitant influx of critters.
Tampke agrees that growth is the main factor driving up call volume. But there's also education and outreach. When people see animal control officers out doing their jobs those people become less shy about calling the next time there's a problem.
"You do a good job and you get busier," Tampke said.
Tampke and Allison agreed there's a need for more officers. But right now there's no funding.
PLANS FOR NEW SHELTER
There is money, however, for a new shelter, which both agree is sorely needed. Voters in October 2005 shot down a borough bond issue for a new shelter. The borough Assembly nonetheless agreed to sell up to $5 million in bonds to build a new shelter. Allison said his hope is to break ground in the spring
The new shelter, he said, will first and foremost let the department do the job it should be doing but can't in its current cramped space. Small dogs won't have to be put in cat cages. The veterinarian will have a place to perform operations other than the two options currently available -- a folding table or the floor.
It will allow staff to keep sick and aggressive animals away from healthy, adoptable ones. There will be room for education programs and for owners to grieve when their animals have to be put down.
And more space means more animals can be kept longer.
"The last thing I want to do or have my staff have to do is euthanize an adoptable animal," Allison said.
That rarely happens, said Tampke, back in her truck.
"But when we do, it's a very sad day," she said.
One of her own five dogs was rescued from the shelter. He's a sweetheart, Tampke said. He loves everybody. But he was about to be put down. He'd been there too long.
The rest of the day Tampke spends trying to make her way to Willow where two dogs have been reported abandoned.
First she has to stop by a farm off Trunk Road and pick up a husky that got loose and went after its neighbor's Guinea hens. She's seen the dog before. Allison has listed him "Level 4" -- known to bite. She drops the dog off at the shelter and gets back on the road.
Still in Wasilla, another call comes in -- same owners, different dog. Tampke turns around.
She finds the dog tied to a tree injured, probably hit by a car. She calls the owner who says she and her husband have tried and failed to keep the dogs contained. They're going to sign the dogs over to the shelter to be put to sleep.
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR BITERS
Adoption is no option for dogs known to bite, Tampke said.
"That's sad," Tampke said. "That makes me want to cry."
Tampke said she was born and raised in Alaska but spent 10 years in Idaho as a police officer. When she came back, she was done with police work but still wanted a job helping people. So she signed on with animal control where she's worked for about two years. She said she loves the job. It plays to her two passions -- children and animals.
The children she meets through educational programs she does in the schools teaching kids about animal cruelty and how to read animal body language to avoid getting bitten.
Those programs have largely been put on hold with call volume as high as it is. She hopes to get back to it.
"We can't keep going like this. We'll have to cut some programs," she said.
Spend enough time with Tampke and it's obvious she's serious when she says she's passionate about animals.
On the way to Willow she pointed out a loose dog by the side of Parks Highway. Clearly unhappy to see the dog, she explained she's ticketed its owner before and would do so again if she had time.
On the return trip, she spotted someone walking a dog on a leash. She joked that she would like to hand out certificates to some people in appreciation of responsible pet care.
"Maybe I'll make up some of those," she said.
Find reporter Andrew Wellner online at adn.com/contact/awellner or call him at 352-6710.
